“There’s a lack of clarity clearly on what this bill is seeking to do. Harding said it would apply to students in kindergarten through fifth grade. They also said the proposal does not specify what grades would be affected. We’re talking about a school district initiating something through a standard procedure or policy that they’re doing,” he said.Ĭritics said Harding’s statements contradicted the broad text of his bill, particularly in terms of having lessons on LGBTQ history, which they argued would be barred from the curriculum. “This doesn’t preclude discussion and conversation that’s going to happen. He added that schools could still have lessons on Pride Month and events such as the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in which a gunman killed 49 people in Orlando.
He maintained that it would not silence spontaneous discussions but instead stop a district from integrating such topics into the curriculum. Harding repeatedly said his bill is meant to give parents more control over what their children learn. Joe Harding with questions about whether kids would be able to talk freely about LGBTQ people or history. In a committee hearing last week, Democrats peppered bill sponsor Rep. The broad reexamination of public education has often turned contentious and led to books being pulled from school library shelves.Īs written, the proposal states that school districts “may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.” A parent could sue a district for violations. schools should teach about race, gender and history. The bill emerged amid a national debate over how U.S. If passed, the measure would “effectively silence students from speaking about their LGBTQ family members, friends, neighbors and icons,” said Kara Gross of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. (AP) - Florida Republicans want to forbid discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools with a bill that activists say endangers children and echoes a previous wave of laws that sought to squelch LGBTQ conversations in the classroom.Īctivists have dubbed the proposal moving through Florida’s GOP-controlled Statehouse as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and it has attracted condemnation on social media and from Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.