ATLANTA (Georgia Recorder) — In the final days of Georgia’s 2025 legislative session, Senate Republicans passed a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion policies in schools and colleges through a committee by stripping out another bill expanding paid leave for teachers.
House Bill 127 is the revival of Senate Bill 120, which did not pass the Senate by a key legislative deadline and would otherwise be dead for the year. The original bill by Dawsonville Republican Brent Cox expanded the number of sick days teachers could use to be absent for personal or professional reasons from three to five.
The version that passed the Senate Education and Youth Committee Thursday instead builds on language by Tyrone Republican Sen. Marty Harbin that bars schools and colleges from practices like promoting the different treatment of or provides benefits to people based on their race, color, sex, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity or sexual orientation.
Committee Chair Billy Hickman, a Statesboro Republican, read the names of about a dozen people who came to speak at the hearing but said they would not be heard because there was not enough time.
Under the bill, postsecondary institutions would also be barred from promoting ideas such as “unconscious or implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, gender ideology or theory, microaggressions, group marginalization, anti-racism, systemic oppression, social justice, intersectionality, neopronouns, heteronormativity, disparate impact, racial privilege, sexual privilege or any similar or related formulation of these concepts” as their official opinions.
The sponsor, Sylvania Republican Sen. Max Burns, compared the concept to college basketball.
“It’s March Madness, and we’re all watching the tournament,” he said. “I have 6’11” basketball players. I have 5’11” basketball players. They’re not all the same size, but they all compete on the same floor. Some would suggest that’s not equitable because they’re not all 5’11” or they’re not all 6’11”. At the end of the day, the equality issue is their ability to compete and achieve based upon their performance, so you can’t treat people differently or provide special benefits to them based upon their protected class.”
Democratic opposition
Democrats, including Dawson Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, opposed the legislation.
“Very few Blacks embrace DEI,” said Sims, who is Black. “Let me tell you why. We never thought after civil rights bills were passed that we would have to acquiesce to that because we thought that there would be a fair, level playing field. The DEI is here for opportunities only. I don’t want to go to your country club. I don’t want to go to church with you. I don’t want to sit at your dining room table. I enjoy being with my Black girlfriends –”
“– I want you to know you’re welcome at my church,” Burns interrupted.
The two talked over each other.
“But I’m not done yet, no no no,” Sims said.
“Yeah, you are (welcome),” Burns interrupted again. “I have members of my church –”
“But we wanted opportunity,” Sims said. “And we wanted to be able to have those opportunities, especially in the workplace.”
Sims said instead of equality, Black people experienced other forms of discrimination like white flight and characterized DEI as a means of attaining economic opportunity.
“Again, Blacks don’t particularly care for DEI. We want to be considered as intelligent, as equals –”
“– as peers, as colleagues,” Burns interrupted.
“ –but we know that that’s as long as we live on this earth,” Sims continued. “It’s not going to be accepted. So having said that –”
“– I hope we both live long enough that that is not true,” Burns interrupted.
The University System of Georgia has not used race as an admissions factor since at least 2001, but Atlanta Democratic Sen. Elena Parent questioned whether the bill could ban affinity groups like the University of Georgia’s Black Law Students Association.
“The University of Georgia can have any association that is appropriate, that does not discriminate,” Burns said. “If that Black student law association is willing to accept individuals of any color, that’s not discriminatory.”
American history
Cumming Republican Sen. Greg Dolezal said the bill fits in with the values of the times. President Donald Trump signed an anti-DEI executive order in January, and major companies have announced they are scaling back or eliminating DEI initiatives.
“I think that part of the reason that we are seeing Fortune 500 companies abandon DEI policies in droves – in fact, the Fortune 500 companies that are keeping DEI policies in place are now the outlier – and I think the reason for that is the equity piece has really been co-opted by neo-Marxists who are focused on this concept of equal outcome,” Dolezal said.
Acworth Republican Sen. Ed Setzler said the bill would ensure those who died in the struggle for civil rights did not die in vain.
“Before the victories of the Civil Rights Movement, isn’t it true, there were, in particular, there’s people of other backgrounds, but in particular, people of Black descent, African American descent, Blacks in our nation, who were more highly qualified to get to the University of Georgia, University of Alabama and other schools, who were denied access because of their skin color. Is that true? And the victory of the Civil Rights Movement was that people who were fully qualified were no longer denied access, but could get access like others, correct?”
Burns agreed.
“At the end of the day – and I was challenged to live through the Civil Rights Movement, and most of you haven’t had that challenge – I had friends who were one of the first African American students at the University of Georgia,” Burns said. “We worked together, we communicated closely, we had dinner together, we socialized together. They were no different, but they overcame the challenge of preparing themselves to have access to higher education. We want to provide that access, we want to provide the skills and materials to ensure that they have that opportunity. At the end of the day, equal protection is essential.”
Are you anti-racist or Anti-racist?
Atlanta Democratic Sen. RaShaun Kemp took umbrage at the inclusion of “anti-racism” in the long list of concepts that postsecondary institutions would not be able to promote as official opinions and asked to amend the bill to remove that word.
“I’m really concerned that the word anti-racism is in there,” Kemp said. “Mr. Chairman, you spoke about wanting equality, and I’m curious to know why the word anti-racism is included in this if you are saying that you oppose racism, and if you could give me the definition of anti-racism?”
“That’s a series of issues that would not be a part of a official position of a post-secondary institution,” Burns said. “Anti-racism would be something where individuals would be opposed to racism.”
“So why is that a bad thing, we should not promote that?” Kemp asked.
“Well, you should not promote the reverse,” Burns said. “Anti-racism, don’t promote racism. Is that not true?”
“Anti-racism is opposing racism and promoting equality,” Kemp said. “So why are we including anti-racism as something that we should not promote in the state of Georgia?”
“To not have a position on,” Burns said.
“So do you think we should have a position in support of racism?” Kemp asked.
“I believe we should ensure that everyone has equal opportunities,” Burns said.
Dolezal told the committee the term anti-racism has been co-opted by unsavory elements in society.
“These are ideologies rooted in neo-Marxism focused on centralizing the means of production, focusing on the outcomes and assuming that outcomes are tied to systemic racism,” Dolezal said. “They were a key factor that led to the riots in 2020, that led to billions of dollars of damage in this country. So anti-racism is a very specific thought, I should say ideology, currently in culture, and it is not some kind of nebulous idea. There are volumes of books written around the concept of anti-racism, and it is anti-capitalism and in many cases it is anti-American.”
Setzler proposed an alternate amendment to capitalize Anti-racism in the bill so as to distinguish the good anti-racism from the anti-American one, and Democrats agreed.
The session is set to end on Friday, April 4. If the DEI bill is to become law, it must pass both chambers and receive Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature.
