It’s been less than two months since Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, aka the “Don’t Say Gay law,” went into effect, and the damage keeps growing. On Wednesday, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. instructed his staff to “pull” LGBTQ support documents from every school district in the state.
The move came after State Board of Education member Ryan Petty argued that some of the documents could violate state law.
The Don’t Say Gay bill was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis (above) in March. Proponents of the legislation claimed its purpose was to shield young students from conversations about LGBTQ topics deemed “not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.” Many argued the sole focus would be to limit early sex education. Critics condemned the vague language, fearing a door would open for varying interpretations that would directly harm LGBTQ students.
Related: Florida teen warned not to ‘say gay’ during graduation speech finds perfectly shady solution
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It went into effect on July 1, prompting some school districts to quickly roll out dangerous new policies like instructing teachers to remove signage indicating a classroom is a “safe space” for LGBTQ students and photos of their families if they have a same-sex spouse.
In Sarasota County, teachers were told that “if a student tells us that (they) are gay/gender questioning/trans, etc, parent must be notified.”
Petty cited “grave concerns” about some LGBTQ support guides, like the one in Hillsborough County that says it’s inappropriate for teachers “to divulge the sexual orientation of a student to a parent” unless there is “imminent fear of physical harm.”
He asked the state’s Department of Education to pull all support guides to conduct a “review, by this board, to ensure compliance with state law and department regulation.” Education Commissioner Diaz approved the request.
Related: Florida students are getting screwed over “Don’t Say Gay” law — now they’re fighting back
Brandon Wolf, the press secretary for LGBTQ-advocacy organization Equality Florida, called the action another example of Gov. DeSantis’ “cynical weaponization of state agencies” against LGBTQ youth.
“Across the state, districts have spent years working alongside their communities to create more inclusive school environments, implementing nationally recognized best practices for supporting all students. Now, the governor is politicizing those resources for the purpose of bolstering his election year bona fides. School districts routinely review and update these resources to remain in compliance with all applicable laws and provide the best possible support for students,” Wolf said in a statement to The News Service of Florida.
“Equality Florida’s grave concern is for the protection of LGBTQ students. The Department of Education’s record on these issues has demonstrated clear hostility toward those protections,” Wolf’s statement added.
More than a dozen other states including Ohio and Louisiana have introduced legislation that mimics Florida’s law.
James
The stupid log cabin republicans gave us these neo nazi trash. What a sick bunch of egomaniacs and narcissists.
Brian
Nope. They’re a tiny, insignificant group. DeSantis was chosen by straight, white Christians.
johncp56
Ditto, it is getting worse,
James
de satanis is ADOLPH HITLER.
mz.sam
BREAKING NEWS: Federal judge blocks first-class, fat-ass Florida MAGA bully and troll Gov. DeSantis violates First Amendment rights with his ‘WOKE Act’ and compares Florida to Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’. Folks, direct your rage against all GOP LIARS, election DENIERS and racist TROLLS by voting this November!
bowlingbutch
the Republicans are bullies and full of hate. They are not concerned about the mental health of these students who are part of a family that is not straight. Their concern is to spread hate.
Kangol2
This is the part of the law that I noted many times on here that particularly endangers LGBTQ youth, especially ones from homophobic/anti-LGBTQ families, of which there are quite a few in Florida and elsewhere:
In Sarasota County, teachers were told that “if a student tells us that (they) are gay/gender questioning/trans, etc, parent must be notified.”
The pro-GQP gay and straight troll posters kept saying, Oh, the law protects little kids and Oh, it’s to prevent discussing sex with third graders and Oh, no grooming blah blah, but noticeably refused to address how this law would put vulnerable LGBTQ young people who spoke to a sympathetic teacher, counselor, coach, or medical staff person (nurse, etc.), in serious danger. The law needs to be repealed ASAP!
cheks
Exactly, and the law does say that parents don’t need to be notified if there is risk to the student, but that’s impossible to prove. And given that the law allows the parents to sue the school, it would be difficult to PROVE that dad was going to be beat the shit out of Timmy if he knew he was gay. Even if Timmy begged not to tell his dad. Is Timmy saying, “Please don’t tell my parents, my dad will kill me” enough? Are they going to make Timmy testify against his dad? (The answer is no)
Harley
What DeathSantis is doing in Florida is only a trial run if he becomes POTUS. He will do what Trump was too stupid to do. I’m sure he’s lining up his potential cabinet as we speak.
miamibeachblues
Every student in the State of Florida should tell their teachers they are gay or trans or whatever, so that the teachers are obligated to report millions of children to their parents. Overload the stupid desantis laws and rules.
johncp56
To be honest I bet they will stand up and unite in that way,
Mister Dawson
And again and again What Are We Doing About It?
inbama
We created DeSantis.
As long as we insist the penis is a female sex organ, it’s very hard to win a debate.
Bosch
You mean, as long as the right PRETENDS we insist the penis is a female sex organ.
inbama
@Bosch
You really don’t know that the object of LGBTQ+ is “breaking the binary” and the abolition of biological sex? Expressing the belief that a penis is a male organ would be condemned today as transphobic by most activists. It follows logically from the belief that there are no male and female bodies, and that such “distinctions” are anti-trans “dog-whistles” created by white supremacists.
Google “The Gender Binary Is a Tool of White Supremacy.”
cheks
This is such a strawman argument. No one is insisting “the penis” is a female sex organ. What people are saying is that if a trans woman has a penis, she not, by virtue of having a penis or had a penis in the past, a DANGER to other women.
There’s another post that complains about women getting upset with a man adjusts himself. It’s this weird penis phobia. A trans woman is not a danger to cis women just because she’s trans. And, it doesn’t make her “not a woman”, if she’s been on hormones for years, her medical needs are more closely related to cis women. Same for trans men, after medically transitioning, the medical needs/risks for trans men and cis men are more similar.
As far as “dismantling the binary”, are you somehow not aware that this is a pretty hot button topic with in the trans community and the larger LGBT community? Most trans people are binary trans people. And from what I understand, most non-binary people who don’t transition are fine with their sex (male/female), but just not their gender roles/expectations. Hence the debate, because many trans people don’t think that simply not liking your gender role makes you trans… just be a masculine woman or a feminine man.
Bosch
@inbama
Sex and gender are separate concepts.
No one is abolishing biological sex.
No one thinks there are no differences between male and female bodies.
A handful of teenagers on Twitter are not “most activists”.
It’s old news that white supremacists are also misogynists.
Your whole post is a dog-whistle.
Bosch
“You really don’t know that the object of LGBTQ+ is “breaking the binary””
Good lord.
The object of most people in the LGBTQ+ group is to live a happy life, like everyone else.
Do you realise that transitioned individuals explicitly subscribe to the gender binary? From man to woman, and from woman to man <- omg a binary configuration!
inbama
“Most people,” yeah.
But if you really don’t notice that former gay and lesbian organizations are supporting the deservedly unpopular ideas I’ve pointed out, you’ve got your head in the sand.
But hey, i provided links, so you must not want to know REALLY bad.
inbama
@cheks
Your second and third paragraphs are absolutely correct, but your first ignores the reality of HRC, GLAAD, Pride in major cities and the ACLU – all of which preach a gender ideology/queer theory mishmash. Transsexuals are often the first to complain that they’ve been erased by the concept of “self ID” being pushed by rich and powerful AGP transvestites who view themselves as lesbians with penises.
ralphb
Back in the early 70’s I was a guest panelist at a meeting with parents and teachers concerning teaching sex ed in the classroom. I was supposedly a representative of the gay community, and was hated by most of the parents in the room just by virtue of being gay. When asked my opinion (as being “pro” on the issue) I explained that most folks argue that it is a parent’s job to educate their children about sex. I told them I agreed, but that, unfortunately, most did not. In fact, the Moderator asked for a show of hands on the people in the audience that had had “the talk” with one or more of their children. My rough guess is that less than 10% said they did. I feel like we are going through the same issues again, and my guess is that the figure of 10% has not changed. Just goes to show that for all the progress we think we have made, the truth is that we haven’t. Or, if we did, we are now regressing. And the cycle continues.
JohnnyBoy2
So, I thought the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” was for Kindergarten through 3rd grade. So, why am I reading lots of stories of high schools disciplining students for gay advocacy.
What’s going on?