The claim: Texas declared bringing a pride flag to classrooms is a crime
A Sept. 15 Threads post ( direct link, archive link ) includes side-by-side images of students wearing “Texas State” T-shirts and a woman holding a pride flag.
“It’s Official: Texas Declares Bringing a Pride Flag to the Classroom a Crime,” reads the post, which includes a link to a separate website.
The Thread was reposted more than 200 times in less than two weeks. Other versions of the claim spread widely on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter .
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Our rating: False
The claim originated on a satirical website. There is no evidence of any such declaration or law in the state.
Texas legislature not in regular session until 2025
The link in the post directs users to an article that first appeared Sept. 8 on Esspots.com , a satirical website that labels its content as such.
The Texas Legislative Reference Library is “not aware of any legislation” supporting the claims in the Facebook post or the linked article, spokesperson Karen McBurney told USA TODAY.
The legislature is not in session and won't be in regular session again until January 2025 , McBurney said.
There are several telling elements of the article that confirm it is not legitimate news as well.
For example, it claims the supposed legislation is titled “The Classroom Sanctity Act,” but nothing under that name is listed in online databases from the Texas State Capitol or the Texas Legislature . There is likewise no credible news reporting about such an act.
The article also says Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law at a Sept. 7 ceremony, but no such event is referenced on the governor’s website , nor are there any reports of it from legitimate news outlets.
Abbott last signed legislation in December 2023, according to the governor's website.
The claim is an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where stories written as satire and presented that way originally are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.
Fact check : Video of mother tearing Pride Flag from classroom wall is staged
There have, however, been numerous actions taken related to pride flags and sexuality in schools in Texas and elsewhere.
A Texas State Senate bill that sought to restrict content related to sexual orientation and gender identity in public and charter schools was introduced in 2023, as reported by The Texas Tribune . It was left pending in committee .
Later that year, a school district in San Antonio said it did not allow its educators to express "personal or political viewpoints" in the classroom after a teacher posted a photo on X that showed a pride flag on display, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
A Tennessee State Senate bill introduced in January would have banned public schools from displaying political or ideological flags, including the pride flag, the Tennessean reported . A bipartisan cohort of state senators blocked the bill from advancing in April.
USA TODAY has debunked an array of claims related to pride flags, including false assertions that Elon Musk called for them to be banned from classrooms and that the United Nations replaced all its flags with pride flags.
USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Check Your Fact and Full Fact also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- Legislative Reference Library of Texas, accessed Sept. 27, Legislative sessions and years
- Texas Legislature, Sept. 27, Bills Signed by the Governor
- Texas State Capitol, accessed Sept. 27, Texas Constitution and Statutes Search
- Office of the Texas Governor, accessed Sept. 26, News Archive
- Texas Legislature Online, accessed Sept. 26, Text Search
- Karen McBurney , Sept. 25, Email exchange with USA TODAY
- Esspots.com, Sept. 24, About Us
- Esspots.com, Sept. 8, It’s Official: Texas Declares Bringing a Pride Flag to the Classroom a Crime
This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy .
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, Texas didn't make it illegal to display pride flags in schools | Fact check
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