TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA —- Legislation expanding the parental rights in education law, bashed by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, saw the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon, raising questions of transgender expression, parental rights and teacher authority.
“Parents have the right and a God-given responsibility to guide their children’s upbringing,” the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Clay Yarborough (R-Jacksonville) said. “We need to let kids be kids, and our laws need to set appropriate boundaries that respect the rights and responsibilities of parents.”
PUSHING A “SEXUALIZED AGENDA” ONTO CHILDREN
HB 1069 bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity from pre-K through eighth grade, expanding the current law’s ban from kindergarten through third grade. It further allows citizens to request inappropriate books be removed from schools.
The bill goes on, defining sex as “immutable and unchanging” — requiring public schools to adopt a policy acknowledging this — and bans teachers from providing or asking for preferred pronouns that do not correspond with an individual’s biological sex.
“You see society coming at our children in a culture war that has an agenda to make them confused,” Sen. Erin Grall (R-Fort Pierce) said. “We are depriving children of the ability to figure out who they are when we push a sexualized agenda onto children.”
“YOU CAN’T LEGISLATE AWAY THE GAY”
Democrats voiced their vehement opposition, citing an infringement on parental and teacher rights. They insisted the true intent is not to protect kids, but to target the LGBTQ community.
“This is just an attack on trans kids,” Sen. Tina Polsky (D-Boca Raton) began. “Rep. Holcomb said – when talking about a military bill – that ‘the terrorists hate homosexuals more than we do.’ It was shocking, but that’s what we feel this bill is designed to do, because people hate homosexuals, people hate trans people.”
“This bill is designed to quell them, quash them, keep them quiet, keep them hidden,” she added. “Trans is a fact of life, gay is a fact of life. You can’t legislate away the gay as much as you might try.”
She was supported by Minority Leader Lauren Book, who claimed the bill is rooted in school censorship. “This bill insults the professionalism of educators. It takes away freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom to be treated equally in our public schools.”
She continued: “Being gay or trans isn’t perverse, it isn’t dangerous. You know what is dangerous? This discrimination we’re codifying into law today.”
After a lengthy debate, HB 1069 passed the Senate down party lines, propelling the bill out of the legislature. It will now head to Governor DeSantis to be signed into law, going into effect July 1.
