A controversial law limiting discussions of sexual orientation in elementary schools was approved Tuesday by the Florida State Legislature.
Its critics, who baptized the project as “Don’t Say Gay”claim that it will have the effect of “discouraging” LGBTIQ+ minors.
They also point out that it might make invisible the history of this population in the southern state, where the attack on the Pulse gay nightclub took place almost six years ago.
The incident, in which 49 people died, is the second deadliest shooting in the history of the North American country.
But supporters of the measure say it is intended to “empower parents.”
Representative Joe Harding, who proposed the legislation, called it the Law for the right of parents in education. It was approved by 22 in favor and 17 once morest, with the majority support of the Republican Party caucus, which dominates both the Senate and the Florida House of Representatives.
“We want to make sure that parents can send their children to kindergarten without some of these things being injected into some of their school curriculum,” he said Monday. Ron DeSantisState governor.
The president, who is projected as a possible Republican candidate for the White House in 2024, intends to sign the project.
However, the politician faces opposition from activists, students and parents who have staged protests across the state. Also from the Joe Biden administration.
What does the project say?
The legislation prohibits teachers from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation between preschool and third grade.
The document states that following third grade, both issues must be addressed in an “age-appropriate” manner.
This last sentence was described by Democrats as “vague” and too broad, but Republicans defended themselves by saying that teachers are not prevented from answering questions, but “lesson planning” on the subject.
The measure also allows parents to sue schools if they believe their children received “inappropriate” classes.
In addition, it not only covers study halls, it also extends to school counseling services.
reactions
“This is really regarding making it impossible for LGBTIQ+ youth to speak for themselves,” said Nadine Smith, executive director of the group Equality Florida.
Todd and Jeff Delmay, one of the first same-sex couples to marry in Florida, said this bill would make it impossible for their 11-year-old son, Blake, to speak freely regarding his parents in the classroom.
“We have fought and won these battles to adopt children and be a family and be together,” Todd told the BBC. “And now they’re looking for ways they can erase us and our families.”
The couple warned that the bill might marginalize LGBT youth as they come to terms with their identity.
The Florida Family Policy Council, a conservative group that supports the bill, said in a statement last week that it was “necessary because public schools in the US have become ideological, political, and more interested in shaping politics and sexual proclivities of a child than in the academic teaching of reading, writing, mathematics and education”.
For his part, Miguel Cardona, US Secretary of Education, stated through Twitter that all schools that receive funds from the federal government must follow non-discrimination laws.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden called the law one of “hate” and promised to “continue fighting” to give the country’s minors “the protections and security they deserve.”
Four other US states – Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas – currently have laws that ban sex education in the classroom or limit it to heterosexual activity.
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