What Florida's 'Don’t Say Gay' bill actually says

Contents:

• “DON’T SAY GAY” WAS JT THE BEGNG
• NEW HAMPSHIRE SENATE NDIDATE WAS PHG 'DON'T SAY GAY' AGENDA 12 YEARS AGO
• NIKKI HALEY SAYS FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ LAW DO NOT GO ‘FAR ENOUGH’
• IN SOME STAT, VERSNS OF ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILLS HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR AWHILE
• NH GOP SENATE CANDIDATE KEV SMH WAS PHG “DON’T SAY GAY” BILL 12 YEARS AGO
• WHAT DO ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ ACTUALLY SAY?
• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• LGBTQ, CHILD WELFARE, AND PUBLIC EDUTN ADVOTE STATEMENTS ON SENATE PASSAGE OF HB 1431, NEW HAMPSHIRE’S VERSN OF A “DON’T SAY GAY” ‘PARENTAL RIGHTS’ BILL

“DON’T SAY GAY” WAS JT THE BEGNG

FLORIDA’S FIRST OPENLY GAY STATE SENATOR ON ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ PASSING: ‘THE AIR WAS TAKEN OUT OF THE ROOM’.

NEW HAMPSHIRE SENATE NDIDATE WAS PHG 'DON'T SAY GAY' AGENDA 12 YEARS AGO

FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY BILL’ HEADS TO DESANTIS’S DESK. Florida’s so-lled “Don’t Say Gay” bill seems to have fally brought real attentn to the years-long legislative crisis unfoldg agast LGBTQ+ (and pecially trans) people.

”Although the bill’s tchy “Don’t Say Gay” moniker has drawn ternatnal attentn, this risks misleadg people to believg that the law is uniquely evil. ”Although the bill don’t specifilly mentn LGBTQ+ people, extracurriculars such as Gay/Queer-Straight Allianc have raised particular ncern among the Fox News crowd, who claims that such clubs are evince that teachers are “groomg” children to a sister agenda.

Across the Uned Stat, at least a dozen stat are nsirg new legislatn that several ways will mirror Florida's new ntroversial law, referred to by some opponents as "Don't Say Gay." The specific tails regardg the bills vary between stat.

NIKKI HALEY SAYS FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ LAW DO NOT GO ‘FAR ENOUGH’

"The stutnalizatn of the bills is an overt form of stctural transphobia and homophobia, and go agast all public health evince creatg a safe and supportive environment for transgenr, nonbary, queer, gay and lbian youths and teachers to thrive," Arjee Rtar, assistant profsor of epimlogy at the Universy of Washgton, told NPR. Rtar, a social epimlogist and health equy advote, said the ntroversial bills will lim all youths to live to their fullt potential, addg "there should be no room for transphobia and homophobia — pecially the classroom." The Florida law drew ntroversy — and pyts Last month, Florida Gov. In Oklahoma, a senate bill would ban books om school librari that foc on "the study of sex, sexual liftyl, or sexual activy." Tennsee's HB 800 bans books and stctnal materials "that promote, normalize, support, or addrs lbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgenr issu or liftyle." Oh's HB616 has siar language ed the Florida bill.

Two years after Arizona lawmakers repealed a law barrg any stctn on HIV or AIDS that that "promot a homosexual liftyle," they are close to enactg a broad remake of the state's sex tn laws wh a particular foc on LGBTQ issu. "Florida may be the first this wave, but there have been other laws the past that were lled 'no promo homo' laws, which forbid sayg posive thgs about lbian, gay, bisexual, and queer people classrooms," Simmons told NPR. New York Cy is lnchg a digal billboard mpaign, supportg LGBTQ visibily that will be displayed five major markets Florida for eight weeks, to lure Floridians unhappy wh their state's "Don't Say Gay" law to the Big Apple, Adams announced.

Durg his tenure at the helm, the New Hampshire Unn Lear reported, Smh phed to keep “pro-gay” curriculum out of New Hampshire’s public schools.

IN SOME STAT, VERSNS OF ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILLS HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR AWHILE

14, he led opposn to the cln of sexual orientatn and genr inty as protected class an anti-bullyg proposal, which Cornerstone lled a “bill mandatg gay and transgenr material school curriculum” and said was beg ed “as a tool for polil activists to ject their sexualized agenda to the classroom. In June of that year, acrdg to a publitn unr the tle “Parents beware: ‘Anti-bullyg’ iativ are gay activists’ latt tools of choice for sneakg homosexualy lsons to classrooms, ” issued by the lobbyg arm of Foc on the Fay, Smh was.

Smh said that “no one is sayg that kids who intify as gay, lbian, bisexual or transgenr shouldn’t be protected. But we have to be sure that those antibullyg measur don’t translate to discsns of homosexual issu the classroom.

In June 2009, Smh had prsured his lol school board Lchfield, New Hampshire, to remove material om s high school curriculums that he did not thk had “good, wholome valu to , ” cludg David Sedaris’ “I Like Guys, ” about his experienc as a gay adolcent. Republin lawmakers Florida and across the untry are today g a siar strategy, phg “Don’t Say Gay” bills to bar school teachers and staff om so much as mentng to kids that some people and some fai are LGBTQ. The now-scbbed “homosexual issu” sectn ntaed lks to groups that clud Exod Internatnal, which shut down 2013 and apologized to the LGBTQ muny for “years of undue judgment by the anizatn and the Christian Church as a whole.

NH GOP SENATE CANDIDATE KEV SMH WAS PHG “DON’T SAY GAY” BILL 12 YEARS AGO

In the endorsement prs release, the pro-equaly anizatn noted that durg his tenure at Cornerstone, Smh lled marriage equaly “radil social engeerg” and beg gay “a liftyle choice” It also noted that he once lobbied for the Natnal Organizatn for Marriage, a natnal group leadg the fight to stop same-sex upl om havg the eedom to marry. Republin printial ndidate Nikki Haley told a New Hampshire dience the ntroversial “don’t say gay” tn law signed by the ernor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, do not go “far enough”.

In Exeter on Thursday, Haley said: “There was all this talk about the Florida bill – the ‘don’t Say gay bill’. Speakg to Fox News, Haley was asked about DeSantis and the “don’t say gay” law and she doubled down on her said: “I thk Ron’s been a good ernor. Kay Ivey signed to law Hoe Bill 322, lloquially dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, rtrictg public school teachers om discsg LGBTQ+ history or people public elementary schools.

At least 20 stat have troduced “Don’t Say Gay” laws this year, which have ma wav around the untry.

WHAT DO ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ ACTUALLY SAY?

READ MORE: Florida Legislature vot to strip Disney of self-ernment after opposn to ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. Sce 1992, Alabama’s tn stipulated that teachers emphasize “ a factual manner and om a public health perspective, that homosexualy is not a liftyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual nduct is a crimal offense unr the laws of the state. A year ago, “Don’t Say Gay” laws that had passed the 1980s were nsired archaic, LGBTQ+ advot said, wh many of them repealed over the years.

Texas lawmakers have exprsed tert pursug a “Don’t Say Gay” bill like Florida’s and Alabama’s, even though the state has had a siar regulatn on the books sce 1991. In Texas, the state still stipulat that tnal materials for people unr the age of 18 “state that homosexual nduct is not an acceptable liftyle and is a crimal offense. Oklahoma passed the natn’s first bill banng teachers om talkg about homosexualy an AIDS sex ed measure April 1987, and Louisana followed su that July.

HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO

South Carola passed a “Don’t Say Gay” bill 1988. In total, ne stat passed laws banng schools om teachg about “homosexualy” om 1987 to 2001, when Utah adopted s versn. For example, Louisiana still has a law on the books that stat, “No sex tn urse offered the public schools of the state shall utilize any sexually explic materials pictg male or female homosexual activy.

Mississippi sex ed law requir that teachers simply teach current state law related to sexual nduct and lists “homosexualy” alongsi sensive topics such as “forcible rape, statutory rape, paterny tablishment” and “child support. Casey said the bills are relics of the AIDS crisis, when panic about homosexualy dictated school curriculum.

LGBTQ, CHILD WELFARE, AND PUBLIC EDUTN ADVOTE STATEMENTS ON SENATE PASSAGE OF HB 1431, NEW HAMPSHIRE’S VERSN OF A “DON’T SAY GAY” ‘PARENTAL RIGHTS’ BILL

WATCH: How Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law regulat school lsons on genr, sexual orientatn. “Once the HIV epimic me to the picture, then a bunch of stat started nsirg and enactg laws that banned stctn on sexualy and homosexualy public tn, channelg this ‘Save Our Children’ mpaign energy and the fear and prejudice durg the HIV epimic, ” Casey said. Five stat repealed their “Don’t Say Gay” bills between 2006 and 2021, when Alabama rcd s law.

Advot say part of that surprise is that “Don’t Say Gay” statut have been revived after two s. Vivian Toppg, director of advocy and civic engagement of the Equaly Feratn, a aln of state LGBTQ+ anizatns, said lol Florida anizers worked overtime to sound the alarms about their “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Advot say that the current ph for “Don’t Say Gay” bills is polil.