More than a dozen stat propose so-lled 'Don't Say Gay' bills : NPR

Contents:

• FLORIDA JT PASSED THE "DON'T SAY GAY" BILL. HERE’S WHAT IT MEANS FOR KIDS
• IN SOME STAT, VERSNS OF ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILLS HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR AWHILE
• FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'
• NOT JT FLORIDA. MORE THAN A DOZEN STAT PROPOSE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILLS
• AFTER 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL PASSED, ANTI-LGBTQ 'GROOMG' RHETORIC SURGED 400% ONLE
• 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL PASS FLORIDA SENATE
• ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL: FLORIDA SENATE PASS LAW MARGALIZG LGBTQ+ PEOPLE
• ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL: FLORIDA SENATE PASS NTROVERSIAL LGBTQ SCHOOL MEASURE
• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• FLORIDA PASS ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL SPE PROTTS

FLORIDA JT PASSED THE "DON'T SAY GAY" BILL. HERE’S WHAT IT MEANS FOR KIDS

The Florida Senate passed the ntroversial so-lled “Don’t Say Gay” bill on Tuday, sendg the Republin-backed legislatn banng LGBTQ stctn primary schools to Gov. The proposed law, often referred to by crics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, bans public school districts om teachg about sexual orientatn or genr inty krgarten through the third gra, or “ a manner that is not age-appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts”—language that crics say uld extend the ban to higher gra levels. ” Read more: Kid of the Year Falist Kai Shappley, 11, Tak on Lawmakers Her Fight for Trans Rights What impact uld the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill have?

Shevr Jon, Florida’s first openly gay Florida state senator, who told the legislative body: “To those who thk you n legislate gay people away, I’m sorry. 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.

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 A year ago, “Don’t Say Gay” laws that had passed the 1980s were nsired archaic, LGBTQ+ advot said, wh many of them repealed over the years.

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

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. South Carola passed a “Don’t Say Gay” bill 1988.

FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'

In total, ne stat passed laws banng schools om teachg about “homosexualy” om 1987 to 2001, when Utah adopted s versn.

NOT JT FLORIDA. MORE THAN A DOZEN STAT PROPOSE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILLS

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. 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.

AFTER 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL PASSED, ANTI-LGBTQ 'GROOMG' RHETORIC SURGED 400% ONLE

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.

Ron DeSantis’ cisn to ph the “Don’t Say Gay” bill Florida is ls about kids and more about the Republin’s printial ambns. The bill, which some opponents have lled "Don't Say Gay, " was signed by DeSantis on Monday.

'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL PASS FLORIDA SENATE

The "Don't Say Gay" moniker om crics of the measure who blast this ia and sist this policy will hurt LGBTQ children. "Florida's HB 1557, also known as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed to law, " the statement read.

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 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.

" Tennsee's HB 800 bans books and stctnal materials "that promote, normalize, support, or addrs lbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgenr issu or liftyle. 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.

‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL: FLORIDA SENATE PASS LAW MARGALIZG LGBTQ+ PEOPLE

"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.

Anti-LGBTQ hate surged onle followg the passage of a Florida law that lims classroom stctn on sexual orientatn and genr inty, a new report particular surge volv rhetoric implyg that lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people are “groomg” children and clus such slurs as “groomer, ” “pedophile” and “predator” relatn to the LGBTQ muny. The month after the Florida Senate passed the Parental Rights Edutn bill, or what crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, on March 8, tweets mentng the LGBTQ muny alongsi the slurs creased 406%, acrdg to the report, which was nducted by the LGBTQ advocy group Human Rights Campaign and the nonprof Center for Counterg Digal law, which took effect July 1, bans stctn about sexual orientatn and genr inty “ krgarten through gra 3 or a manner that is not age appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts acrdance wh state standards. In April, a gay uple said a man on an Amtrak tra lled them “rapists” and “pedophil” ont of their children.

The Parental Rights Edutn bill, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by LGBTQ activists, has now been passed by both the Florida Senate and Hoe. The Republin-domated Florida legislature passed a bill on Tuday which would forbid stctn on sexual orientatn and genr inty krgarten through third gra, rejectg a wave of cricism om Democrats that margaliz LGBTQ+ proposal, which opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, now mov to the sk of the Republin ernor, Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign to s ceptn, the measure has drawn tense opposn om LGBTQ+ advot, stunts, Democrats, the Whe Hoe and the entertament dtry, amid creased attentn on Florida as Republins ph culture war legislatn and DeSantis ascends the GOP as a potential printial ndidate.

‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL: FLORIDA SENATE PASS NTROVERSIAL LGBTQ SCHOOL MEASURE

Dozens of stunts and advot flood mtee rooms durg the early stag of the bill procs and then packed the halls of the legislature as moved toward fal passage, often wh chants of “We say gay! DeSantis has chafed at llg the proposal the “Don’t Say Gay” bill bee he said would apply to stctn on any genr inty or sexual orientatn. The measure, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by s opponents, was passed by the state Hoe last month and now heads to Republin Gov.

Parents n sue school districts for alleged a tearful addrs to the Senate on Monday, Democrat Shevr Jon, the first openly gay Florida state senator, urged his lleagu to narrow the bill’s language to say stctn should not be “tend to change a stunt’s sexual orientatn or genr inty. ”“I ask that you open up your hearts jt a tad b, ” he said, notg the name-llg and shunng he had faced as a gay man.

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

But Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn act — which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — has sudnly sparked a natnal war of recent weeks, lears of global rporatns, edorial boards of major newspapers and Hollywood actors have all weighed on the proposed legislatn, wh some llg “eply disturbg” and others “nonntroversial. ” Conversely, opponents say would unfairly target the LGBTQ muny — particularly gay and trans stunts — and is “pretendg to solve a problem that don’t exist.

For starters, cricism that the “Don’t Say Gay” bill do not fact say “gay” anywhere s text is te. The bill, which passed Florida’s Senate last week and the state’s Hoe of Reprentativ Febary, do, however, nta the terms “sexual orientatn” and “genr inty, ” each legal experts say that whether the bill prohibs the word “gay” self is a “distractn.

“The ‘Don’t Say Gay’ moniker is a moniker about a certa polil amg of this suatn. ”Beyond brandg, a re argument over the bill centers around whether would prohib the “stctn” or “discsn” of sexual bill’s sponsors have emphatilly stated that the bill would not prohib stunts om talkg about their LGBTQ fai or bar classroom discsns about LGBTQ history, cludg events like the 2016 adly attack on the Pulse nightclub, a gay club Orlando.

FLORIDA PASS ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL SPE PROTTS

The proposal, which opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, now mov to the sk of Republin Gov. Dozens of stunts and advot flood mtee rooms durg the proposal’s early stag and then packed to the halls of the legislature as moved toward fal passage, often wh chants of “We say gay! DeSantis has chafed at llg the proposal the “Don’t Say Gay” bill bee he said the bill would apply to stctn on any genr inty or sexual orientatn.