The banning of DEI programs in schools continues.
Kay Ivey, Alabama’s governor, has signed a bill that will ban the diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in schools, state agencies, and public colleges. This new law is known as SB 129 and it will “impose restrictions on what it calls eight divisive concepts related to race and personal identity,” reports state. The law will also “mandate the public colleges designate bathrooms based on person’s biological sex.”
In a statement, Ivey said, “My administration has and will continue to value Alabama’s rich diversity. However, I refuse to allow a few bad actors on college campuses or whatever else for that matter- to go under the acronym of DEI, using taxpayer funds, to push their liberal political movement counter to what the majority of Alabamians believe.”
There have been arguments that have criticized these bills and said that they are undermining free speech protections for others. NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson reacted to the signing of this new bill and said, “Today, the Alabama government has failed our children. The ongoing assault on diversity, equity, and inclusion is part of an anti-Black agenda that seeks to revert our nation back to a time where Black students and teachers were denied adequate access to the classroom. We refuse to go back.”
The Alabama law will go into effect on October 1, 2024.