Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Rule Expands to All Grades

TALLAHASSEE, FL — (04-19-23) — Florida’ right wing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, expands his ‘Don’t Say Gay’ agenda targeting the LGBTQ+ community by celebrating the passage of 3 anti-LGBTQ bills on Wednesday.

DeSantis is celebrating his wins of a state board approving an expansion of his “Don’t Say Gay” law on Wednesday, and the state House passed bills on gender-transition treatments, bathroom use and keeping children out of drag shows, as if children were ever really in any drag shows.

The Board of Education approved a ban expanding on classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades where before it was limited to 3rd grade. Now it goes all the way up to the 12th grade at the request of DeSantis.

The rule change would ban lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from grades 4-12, unless required by existing state standards or as part of reproductive health instruction that students can choose not to take. That’s the time when students are becoming aware of their sexuality.

According to the state’ education department, the proposal will take effect after a procedural notice period that lasts about a month.

The DeSantis administration and the Republican party’s aggressive conservative agenda on targeting the LGBTQ community is only getting worse. The prohibition has drawn intense backlash from critics who argue it marginalizes LGBTQ+ people and has vague terms that result in self-censorship from teachers. Democratic President Joe Biden has called DeSantis and the state’s GOP actions as “hateful.”

Article by: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

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