Austin ISD hosting Pride Week March 20-25
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Austin Independent School District announced it is holding a Pride Week celebration during the week of March 20-25. According to the district, it is to celebrate LGBTQIA students, staff and families.
The district says this year's event coincides with the National LGBT Health Awareness Week.
The district's plans come one year after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote a letter to then AISD superintendent Stephanie Elizalde in March 2022, condemning the district’s “Pride Week” events.
Paxton wrote in the letter the lesson plans deal head-on with sexual orientation and gender identity, topics that are “unmistakably” human sexuality instruction and are “governed by state law.”
Paxton said parents, not school districts, are in charge of sex education. He said by hosting Pride Week, in its current form, AISD is breaking state law.
“I want all our LGBTQIA students to know that we are proud of them and that we will protect them against political attacks,” Elizalde wrote on Twitter in response in March 2022.
According to the announcement, each campus received a guide of suggested activities and resources for Pride Week.
During the week, students and staff can visit their school's front office to pick up Pride and Ally stickers, posters, flags, pronoun buttons and more.
AISD's Pride Parade is being planned for August, with details to be determined.