‘It’s had a chillg effect’: Florida teachers anx about ‘don’t say gay’ bill | Florida | The Guardian

gay classroom

A gay teacher Massachetts has e out to his first-gra class. Did he do the right thg?

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AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS

A Florida teacher unr a state vtigatn for showg a Disney movie featurg a gay character said she wasn’t aware the state’s ntroversial law banng stctn about certa LGBTQ topics had been recently expand to apply to her gra level. * gay classroom *

After about a the classroom, he was named the bt tor Kentucky September 2021 -- but at the same time, he said, a small but vol mory his ral town Montgomery County went after, who is gay, told ABC News that he was sgled out for actually protectg LGBTQ kids his school and their fai, which ma him a said that earlier this year, a muny member who was postg about him on social media also repeatedly went to unty school board meetgs to report predatn and so-lled child "groomg" -- a term that has bee popular nservative circl for allegatns of adults sexually manipulatg said this person, who had not named him at the board meetgs but repeatedly referenced him by name onle, also "doxxed" him and some of his stunts on Facebook by sharg their private, acrdg to Carver, he and some stunts' parents asked Montgomery County Supertennt Dr.

"Many crics labeled the "Don't Say Gay" bill. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights Edutn bill -- which don't specifilly e the word "gay, " though broadly rtricts talk of sexualy and genr -- to law earlier this year rponse to "woke genr iology.

GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

"Joshua Block is a staff attorney wh the Natnal ACLU’s Lbian Gay Bisexual Transgenr & HIV "We need to be teachg them to read or wre, to add, to subtract, " he said -- addg that "the purpose of our schools is to te kids not to doctrate them. "This is the exact oppose of what we need, " Kryk, a gay fifth-gra teacher outsi of Tampa, told ABC News. He intifi as gay.

FLORIDA TEACHER UNR VTIGATN FOR SHOWG DISNEY MOVIE WH GAY CHARACTER SAYS SHE DIDN’T KNOW LGBTQ RTRICTN APPLIED TO HER CLASS

Before the bill was passed, some Democrats unsuccsfully attempted to make more specific -- rtrictg stctn on sexual activy rather than orientatn, for though many who spoke wh ABC News said they are disappoted the law's lack of clary, some gay teachers don't see an issue wh . Pancholy's Stonewall Honor-wng novel "The Bt at It" follows 12-year-old Rahul Kapoor, who is not only figurg out his cultural inty as an Indian-Amerin but is also jt begng to realize that he might be gay. And so what's next: gay marriage?

COMG OUT CLASS: WHEN TEACHERS TELL STUNTS "I'M GAY"

As Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn law — or what crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law — go to effect Friday, some of the state’s public school districts have begun rollg out new polici to lim LGBTQ issu and inti om beg discsed the Tuday night, the Leon County School Board unanimoly approved s “LGBTQ Inclive School Gui, ” which clus a provisn to alert parents if a stunt who is “open about their genr inty” is their child’s physil tn class or wh them on an overnight school trip. Clifford / AP fileThe so-lled Don’t Say Gay law, HB 1557, bans “stctn” about sexual orientatn or genr inty “ krgarten through gra 3 or a manner that is not age appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts acrdance wh state standards.

” A provisn the law also requir school staff members to alert parents about “cril cisns affectg a stunt’s mental, emotnal, or physil health or well-beg, ” which many advot have terpreted as a way to force tors to out their gay or trans stunts. They have also ntend that will not prohib teachers and stunts om talkg about their LGBTQ fai or bar classroom discsns about LGBTQ history, cludg events like the 2016 attack at the Pulse gay nightclub crics and legal experts have said the broad language of the law uld open school districts and teachers to lawsus om parents who believe any nversatn about LGBTQ people or issu is “not age appropriate.

Carlos Smh, a Democrat who is gay and has been an outspoken cric of the new law, said he was “not surprised” that schools the state were announcg the polici and guil. “What’s happeng right now — wh the censorship of rabow flags and school districts preparg to basilly ph LGBTQ stunts and teachers to the closet — is exactly what we said would happen wh the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. "Members and supporters of the LGBTQ muny at the "Say Gay Anyway" rally Miami Beach, Fla., on March 13.

FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG

Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty Imag fileFive other stat — all of them the South — have enacted laws that lim stctn or discsns about LGBTQ people or issu school, and at least 32 others have proposed such measur this year, acrdg to acrdg to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ thk tank that has been trackg the strsed that the polici will have nsequenc for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer stunts, potg to the disproportnately high rat of suici attempts among the untry’s LGBTQ youths.

‘IT’S HAD A CHILLG EFFECT’: FLORIDA TEACHERS ANX ABOUT ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL

”In Palm Beach County, Woods, who is gay, said that after they received the qutnnaire om school officials to flag urse material or books wh LGBTQ referenc, many of his lleagu are nervo they’ll be reprimand if they miss somethg. WASHINGTON – A feral appeals urt has led that a Catholic high school Indianapolis was ee to fire a gay guidance unselor bee she performed at least some relig duti, the latt legal setback for LGBTQ+ rights when they nflict wh Fzgerald had worked for 14 years as a guidance unselor at Ronlli High School when school officials disvered she was married to another woman.

FLORIDA SCHOOL SYSTEM HAS CLOSED VTIGATN TO TEACHER WHO SHOWED DISNEY MOVIE WH GAY CHARACTER

A Florida teacher unr a state vtigatn for showg a Disney movie featurg a gay character said she wasn’t aware the state’s ntroversial law banng stctn about certa LGBTQ topics had been recently expand to apply to her gra level. The Disney film tells the story of a fay of explorers and featur a gay character. When DeSantis signed the ban to law last year, he and other Florida Republins touted as a protectn of parents’ rights, while opponents slammed as yet another effort by GOP lawmakers the state to erase and opprs LGBTQ people schools, llg the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Comg Out Class: When Teachers Tell Stunts "I'm Gay"Teacher Talks wh First-Grars It began as a classroom discsn about fai. Acrdg to prs acunts of the exchange, Gaa told the children that he is gay, and that he liv wh a partner, "someone you love the way your mom and dad love each other.

" When a stunt asked if he liked beg gay, Gaa rpond that was a hard qutn to answer, but that he was proud of who he was. "My pot is, the same standards of discretn should be applied for homosexual and heterosexual teachers, and therefore the same standard of tolerance and rpect should be applied. " A Tough Call For Teachers For gay and lbian teachers, the cisn to talk wh kids about their sexual orientatn is seldom an easy one.

BEG GAY AT SCHOOL REMAS DIFFICULT FOR TEACHERS

" On the other hand, this teacher believ, is entirely appropriate for young children to learn what the words "gay and lbian" mean.

"What Do Gay Mean? " Tips for Talkg wh Young Kids It's ironic: While parents are ually more ncerned about younger children's exposure to homosexualy, ltle kids are ls likely to grasp what means than olr stunts are.

GAY TEACHER 'HAD SEX HIS CLASSROOM DURG SCHOOL HOURS'

Some suggtns for parents om Eleanora Villegas-Reimers, associate profsor of human velopment at Wheelock College Boston: DO iate a nversatn wh children if you know they've had classroom discsns about what means to be gay.

Ignorg the issue sends children the msage that homosexualy is somethg that shouldn't be discsed. " DO talk about "different kds of fai, " and clu gay and lbian fai wh a mentn of divorced and sgle-parent fai, multicultural fai, etc.

"Even if you don't embrace the homosexual liftyle, the fai do exist, " says Villegas-Reimers. Michael Woods, a high school special tn teacher Palm Beach unty, Florida, wh 30 years of experience teachg and who grew up as a stunt the area who was bullied for beg gay, said he cried the night before this school year began Augt 2022 bee of anxiety related to Florida’s “don’t say gay” bill that went to effect July 2022.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY CLASSROOM

Gay unselor's firg at Indiana Catholic school OK'd by urt .

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