Remember Florida's Awful 'Don't Say Gay' Law? Gov. DeSantis Wants to Expand It to All Grades

Florida’s controversial Parental Rights in Education Act — better known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law — was already a bleak example of legislative attacks on LGBTQ+ rights in America. Unfortunately, it’s about to get even darker in the Sunshine State: Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is now moving to broaden the law to apply to all grades.

As the Associated Press reported, the DeSantis administration proposed this sinister plan, which directly contradicts previous comments about the law’s scope, earlier this week. Since it’s an administrative proposal, it won’t require legislative approval.

The proposal was put forward by the state Education Department and is scheduled for a vote next month before the Florida Board of Education, both of which are led by DeSantis appointees. So, bad news all around for LGBTQ+ Floridians.

Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law was passed last March and later signed into law by DeSantis himself. As the moniker suggests, it prohibits public school personnel and third parties from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in any capacity, all under the guise of protecting children from learning about “age-inappropriate” topics.

If teachers violate these terms, they can be sued by parents in the school district and risk losing their teaching license.

The law currently applies to kindergarten through Grade 3, although if DeSantis gets his way, it will soon encompass Grades 4–12, too. The only exceptions would be if instruction on LGBTQ+-related topics is required by state law or part of reproductive health education… which students can opt out of.

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