Fact-checkg 3 proment claims about Florida's ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill - Poynter

Contents:

• WHAT THE BILL DUBBED ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BY CRICS ACTUALLY SAYS
• THE BIGGT LIE ABOUT FLORIDA’S “DON’T SAY GAY” BILL ERAS ONE CCIAL WORD
• FACT-CHECKG 3 PROMENT CLAIMS ABOUT FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL
• 'WHAT PARENTS ARE THEY SUPPORTG?': MOMS SPEAK OUT AGAST 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW

WHAT THE BILL DUBBED ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BY CRICS ACTUALLY SAYS

'I am eply gay': Kate McKnon mocks Florida's ntroversial bill.

In their qut to bee the party of “parental rights, ” Republins Florida and other stat are attemptg to muzzle discsn of gay and civil rights school. Ron DeSantis signed – tled “Parental Rights Edutn” – has been dubbed by crics the “Don’t Say Gay” bill bee seeks to ban discsn of genr and sexualy issu wh younger stunts.

THE BIGGT LIE ABOUT FLORIDA’S “DON’T SAY GAY” BILL ERAS ONE CCIAL WORD

What has been dubbed by crics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill was the subject of an tense opposn mpaign.

Earlier this month, DeSantis grew agated at the Florida Strawberry Ftival when a reporter asked him about the phrase – “Don’t Say Gay” – that crics have applied to the bill. But Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn act — which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — has sudnly sparked a natnal war of words.In 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.” Kate McKnon ripped to the bill durg a recent “Weekend Update” segment on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” The hosts of the ABC talk show “The View” mulled over the policy for more than seven mut on air last month. Ron DeSantis, who has said he supports the bill but hasn't signed yet, and Disney CEO Bob Chapek.Supporters of HB 1557 say would give parents greater ntrol over their children’s tn, vditg their “parental thory.” 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.”So, which is ?For starters, cricism that the “Don’t Say Gay” bill do not fact say “gay” anywhere s text is te.

FACT-CHECKG 3 PROMENT CLAIMS ABOUT FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL

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 twice.But legal experts say that whether the bill prohibs the word “gay” self is a “distractn.”“In the same way that cril race theory isn’t beg tght schools, that hasn’t stopped people like the ernor of Florida om ployg the term ‘cril race theory’ efforts to engage certa kds of polil manvergs,” said Charlton Copeland, a profsor at the Universy of Miami School of Law who wr about sexual orientatn and genr inty. “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 orientatn.The 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. 1557, dubbed the “don’t say gay” bill, the law’s most proment supporters have refed to publicly tell the tth about what the measure actually says.

It is need, they say, to prevent “groomers”—specifilly, gay and trans teachers—om attemptg to rpt and doctrate children wh explic classroom materials. The “don’t say gay” moniker, they sist, is misleadg: Teachers and stunts n still talk about LGBTQ issu; they jt n’t force 8-and-unrs to learn about gay sex and genr transn.

'WHAT PARENTS ARE THEY SUPPORTG?': MOMS SPEAK OUT AGAST 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW

Set asi, for now, this revival of the od myth that gay people prey on children, attemptg to “nvert” or “rec” them to homosexualy, then moltg them. 1557’s proponents are rrect that the bill do not e the word gay.

But crics nicknamed HB 1557 the “don’t say gay” bill, warng isn’t necsary and mak some stunts feel unsafe by sglg out LGBTQ material as dangero and appropriate. Dennis Baxley (R-Ola) the bill’s Senate sponsor who said he was addrsg “social engeerg” that uld rult more children intifyg as gay or transgenr.