A Republican lawmaker in Arizona has introduced legislation to ban the discussion of homosexuality in schools during sex education classes and to prevent sex ed from being taught altogether before the seventh grade. If it becomes law, all public and charter schools would be forced to update their courses to be in compliance with the bill's language.

Sen. Sylvia Allen, from the town of Snowflake (yes, really), prefiled the bill, SB 1082, on January 8. It is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Education Committee, which she chairs, on January 14.

Democrats are calling the move an attempt to undo their successful repeal of the state's "no promo homo" law last year, which had prohibited teaching about homosexuality in HIV/AIDS curriculum.

Sen. Tony Navarrete told the Arizona Capitol Times he might have been able to come out as gay sooner had his teachers been able to answer his questions on the topic, and called the situation "a health issue."

The bill would require coursework be developed during publicly noticed meetings and would make it available for public comment for at least 60 days before implication. It would also further push abstinence, which is already front-and-center in Arizona's sex education.

Allen has said people criticizing the gay-erasing nature of the bill are misunderstanding its language and has pledged to amend it to clear up any confusion, and added that the goal of the legislation is to provide transparency to parents about what is being taught to their children, Fox 10 reports.

"While we are still analyzing Senator Allen's bill to determine what the ramifications would be for schools, districts and the Arizona Department of Education, I am appalled that it could take us backward as a state," said Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman in a statement. "Parents should always have a choice in what their child learns, but students deserve medically accurate, age-appropriate information to keep themselves safe and healthy."

Allen previously introduced a bill, in 2015, that would have made attending church mandatory.