On Tuesday, the Florida Senate Education Committee passed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that would bar school districts from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity, according to CBS News.
The Parental Rights in Education bill would apply to such discussions in primary grade levels and in cases where the topic is deemed “not age-appropriate.”
Proposed by Republican State Senator Dennis Baxley, the bill would extend to student support services and counseling that would require school districts to give parents all information related to a student’s “mental, emotional or physical health or well-being.”
Parents can sue school districts that fail to follow these requirements.
The purpose of the Don’t Say Gay bill is to “reinforce the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding the upbringing and control of their children.”
If Florida legislators pass the bill, it would likely go into effect on July 1. All school district plans will be updated by June 30, 2023.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis voiced his support to the bill and said Monday that he does not approve of “injecting these concepts about choosing your gender” at schools.
He said, “We’ve seen instances of students being told by different folks in school, ‘Oh, don’t worry. Don’t pick your gender yet. Do all this other stuff.’ They won’t tell the parents about these discussions that are happening. That is entirely inappropriate. Schools need to be teaching kids to read, to write. They need to them them science, history. We need more civics.”
He does not think such conversations are “going on in large numbers,” but said he wants “to make sure that our schools are really focusing on the basics.”
“We don’t want them to be engines to be putting things like the CRT [critical race theory] that we talked about, things that are divisive and are not accurate of course when you start talking about some of the stuff that they’re teaching with it and making sure that we’re really focusing on the basics,” the governor added.
According to a 2019 survey from The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), the school climate in Florida is “not safe” for most LGBTQ students.
In fact, most of them who responded to the survey said they regularly heard anti-LGBTQ remarks in schools, and about 25% had experienced physical harassment at school. However, the survey found that 98% of the participants said at least one school staff member was supportive.
However, the bill has angered President Joe Biden. He tweeted Tuesday, “I want every member of the LGBTQI+ community — especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill — to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are. I have your back, and my Administration will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve.”
A White House spokesperson said in a statement, “Every parent hopes that our leaders will ensure their children’s safety, protection, and freedom. Today, conservative politicians in Florida rejected those basic values by advancing legislation that is designed to target and attack the kids who need support the most — LGBTQI+ students, who are already vulnerable to bullying and violence just for being themselves,” according to The Associated Press.
LGBTQ advocates and students have been protesting the measure for days across Florida.
Last week, Scott Galvin of Safe Schools South Florida told CBS Miami, “It’s a radical rollback of the calendar. It will stop teachers and schools from talking to kids about LGBTQ issues and it will stop them from talking about gay issues among themselves.”
