Texas wants Bibles in public classrooms as another way to bully, harm, and exclude LGBTQ+ kids

I went to a Catholic school for eight years, so I had no choice when it came to learning about the Bible. I remember being confused by scripture on many occasions. As a child, I could not comprehend how Noah got all those animals onto a small boat.

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It was around the same time I began to wonder how Santa could carry presents for all the children in the world on his small sleigh. Nevertheless, I came to respect the Bible and what it stood for.

Some might say it was eight years of brainwashing, but I prefer to think of it as my parents doing what they thought was best by providing a Catholic education for their kids.

Now, Bibles in the classroom might not be limited to those classes at St. Teresa Elementary School in the suburbs of Pittsburgh.

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In Texas, lawmakers and education officials are moving toward a decision that could make the state the first in the nation to mandate Bible readings in public school classrooms. It’s being framed as an exercise in literary and historical literacy.

But this is conservative Christians we’re talking about, and when it comes to the Bible, we know what their intent is. Students could encounter passages from Job, Ecclesiastes, and Noah, as I did, along with familiar parables, and end up not only confused but indoctrinated.

Many might say that a Bible education wouldn’t be so bad. After all, some outside conservative Christians see Bible study as part of understanding a cultural touchstone.

But let’s be real. This effort by Texas Christian fundamentalists isn’t about literature. It’s about power, and using it to bully, exclude, and harm vulnerable kids.

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The children who will feel it most acutely are the ones already carrying the heaviest burdens, especially LGBTQ+ kids who are at this very moment being targeted. Putting Bibles in the classroom will compound this problem.

Public schools are supposed to be among the last truly secular spaces in American life. They are places where children from different religions, backgrounds, identities, and families meet on equal ground.

If you think about it, the system is supposed to be based on neutrality, in which the state does not tell any child that their identity is inherently right or wrong. Those of us in the LGBTQ+ community who went to public school, scared of being outed, know that hasn’t always been true. In fact, quite the opposite. There are still some schools in this country that would like nothing better than to tar and feather queer kids.

And matters will become much more ominous by mandating Bible readings that shatter that neutrality. And for LGBTQ+ students, the consequences aren’t hypothetical. They’re deeply, deeply personal.

We know from years of research that LGBTQ+ youth experience higher levels of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation than their peers. One driver is called “minority stress,” the strain of existing in environments that reject who you are.

I went through high school petrified of being found out, and millions have shared that experience. And to this day, there are millions of kids who know they will be rejected if their truth comes out.

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Now imagine being one of those gay or transgender kids in a Texas classroom where passages from a religious text, ones often used to condemn your existence, are required. Leviticus 18:22 states: "Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable." This Old Testament verse is traditionally interpreted as a direct prohibition of same-sex sexual activity, labeling it an "abomination" or "detestable" act.

You can bet your last dollar that Texas evangelicals will prioritize that verse, and others, to scare the hell out of gay kids, presumably, they think that will scare the kids straight.

Further, it doesn’t matter if a teacher frames those passages as literature or metaphor. What matters is the message: that the Bible is an authority on how to live - and love.

If you’ve already heard those same passages used to justify exclusion or rejection, the classroom becomes another site of harm. And students who aren’t dealing with minority stress may feel they have the license to bully because “it’s in the Bible.”

Supporters say the Bible is foundational to understanding Western literature and American history. That argument is unadulterated B.S. since many of the same voices support policies that target transgender kids or threaten to out students to their parents.

And here’s where the “literature” argument falls apart. There are countless other texts, traditions, and perspectives. Yet they are not mandating the Torah, the Quran, or the Bhagavad Gita. They’re not insisting on Indigenous spiritual narratives, which are a crucial part of American history.

So why this one book? The answer is obvious.

Because this isn’t about education at all. It’s about privileging one worldview over others, and, in doing so, signaling which identities and beliefs belong and which do not. When a state requires a religious text, it grants students and teachers a kind of moral permission structure under the guise of righteousness.

And if these demonic Christians can succeed in Texas? It will be a blueprint for other states to follow.

Imagine biblical passages embedded in English Language Arts curricula, on standardized tests, or used to justify bringing evangelical pastors into school assemblies. Getting the Bible into classrooms is only the first step. These so-called “Christians” don’t know how to repress the spreading of their abhorrent selfishness.

Yes, parents may have the right to opt their children out of certain lessons, but what happens when opting out means their children get an “F” in Bible courses?

For LGBTQ+ students, who may already feel isolated or unsupported at home, school is often a lifeline, a place where they can exist with at least some neutrality. Transforming that space into one shaped by religious doctrine risks eroding that fragile sense of safety.

Consider, too, the broader movement to ban books in schools. Efforts to inject Bible-based curriculum will likely coincide with, and bolster, current attempts to strip away inclusive materials, books that reflect LGBTQ+ lives and the full American story.

For Texas Bible-thumpers, the “American story” is white, straight, and evangelical, with no room for stories about slavery, Stonewall, or the equal rights fight for women.

The bottom-line issue is the state deciding that one religious text, at the expense of so much other history, deserves a place in every child’s education, whether that child or their family believes in it or not.

In a country where the separation of church and state is eroding, teaching the Bible in a public school should scare the bejesus out of all of us.

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