The Florida state senate indeed passed a contentious ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill on Tuesday. The bill prohibits sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary schools. This is a step that critics believe will harm the LGBTQ community. The bill now heads to Governor Ron DeSantis; who says he supports it after it passes both chambers of the legislature.
What is the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill?
The proposed law prohibits public school districts from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity to students in kindergarten through third grade; or “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students” language that critics say could extend the prohibition to higher grades. LGBTQ activists and Democrats have campaigned against the “Don’t Say Gay” anti-homophobia rule; claiming that it will affect children aged 8 to 9 in kindergarten.
What is the controversy surrounding the bill?
“What we really need to be doing is teaching tolerance, caring, loving, anti-discrimination, anti-bigotry. Tell me how this bill does that. Tell me how this bill is helping us create kind, giving, tolerant adults. I don’t see it. I see it as exactly the opposite,” said state senator Tina Polsky, a Democrat.
Republicans in Florida have been fighting for months to certainly get more control over what their children learn in school. “We are going to make sure parents are able to send their kid to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into some of their school curriculum,” DeSantis likewise said Monday at a news conference.
What does the bill state?
The bill states: “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade three or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students by state standards.”
However, in 2024, the Republican governor could be a presidential candidate for his party, in opposition to President Donald Trump. Last month, Florida’s lower house enacted a bill limiting the teaching of race-related topics in schools.
