'Don't Say Gay' Bill To Be Signed By DeSantis

Miami FL

09 March, 2022

2:05 PM

Description

A Miami Times Staff Report, the Miami Times Mar 8, 2022 The Florida state Senate passed the controversial "Don't Say Gay" bill Tuesday in a 22-17 vote. The measure – which limits discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida's elementary schools, and also restricts how these topics can be discussed by older students – is expected to face legal challenges. Some argue the bill is a solution waiting for a problem. There is no evidence that pre-K through third grade teachers are addressing sex or sexual orientation in classrooms anywhere in the state. The legislation states that classroom instruction 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." The bill also opens the doors for parents to sue Florida schools if these discussions take place, and it requires schools to alert parents if there's any change to a student's mental, emotional or physical health. The Florida House of Representatives previously passed the bill Feb. 24. With the Senate passage, the bill now heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis's desk. If he signs it into law, it will go into effect July 1. The governor has indicated he supports the bill, and defended it during a news conference in Jacksonville on Friday. "When you actually look at the bill and it says 'no sexual instruction to kids pre-K through three,' how many parents want their kids to have transgenderism or something injected into classroom instruction?" said DeSantis. "It's basically saying for our younger students, do you really want them being taught about sex? And this is any sexual stuff. But I think clearly right now, we see a focus on transgenderism, telling kids they may be able to pick genders and all of that." The governor has not produced any evidence that what he claims to be so afraid of is actually happening anywhere in Florida. LGBTQ+ activists throughout Florida and nationally have slammed the bill. "The 'Don't Say Gay' bill, which bans discussion of LGBTQ people or issues in primary grades, would further stigmatize the LGBTQ community, chill efforts to create inclusive school environments, and isolate LGBTQ kids who are already at staggeringly higher risk of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation than their peers," said Equality Florida, a nonprofit LGBTQ+ advocacy group, in a statement. Advocates with the Human Rights Watch have also spoken out against the bill, saying that if the law goes into effect, "Florida is moving in the wrong direction." "Teachers should not fear punishment if they celebrate diversity or let kids know that it's okay to be LGBT," one researcher with the organization said, "and students should not be cut off from affirming information and support." There have been rallies and student walkouts opposing the measure throughout the state in recent weeks. "I think that this whole thing is an initiative to try to continue to suppress education on minorities and oppressed groups," Shayna Nuenez, a freshman at the University of South Florida, told Patch. "Who's to say that you can omit that from public education and in comparison to everything else that happened in history? It's just shamelessly discriminatory." Mary Tavarozzi, board president of ALSO Youth in Sarasota and Manatee counties, told Patch the proposed law has left a lot of LGBTQ youth feeling scared and isolated. "They're fearful their GSA [Gay Straight Alliance] clubs could be stopped, that books are gonna be banned from libraries, that they can't talk to their teachers," Tavarozzi said. The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.