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

Contents:

• WHAT THE BILL DUBBED ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BY CRICS ACTUALLY SAYS
• “DON'T SAY GAY” BILLS AREN'T NEW. THEY'VE JT BEEN REVIVED
• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL: WHAT DO MEAN?
• RON DESANTIS WILL PROUDLY NOT ‘SAY GAY’
• WHAT A NATNAL 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD MEAN FOR TN
• HERE’S WHAT FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ AND ANTI-'WOKE’ BILLS ACTUALLY SAY
• AFTER 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL PASSED, ANTI-LGBTQ 'GROOMG' RHETORIC SURGED 400% ONLE
• ‘IT’S HAD A CHILLG EFFECT’: FLORIDA TEACHERS ANX ABOUT ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL
• THE NSTUTNAL PROBLEM WH FLORIDA’S “DON’T SAY GAY” BILL

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. 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. 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.

“DON'T SAY GAY” BILLS AREN'T NEW. THEY'VE JT BEEN REVIVED

But a handful of stat, versns of the legislatn have existed for 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 A year ago, “Don’t Say Gay” laws that had passed the 1980s were nsired archaic, LGBTQ+ advot said, wh many of them repealed over the years.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. South Carola passed a “Don’t Say Gay” bill 1988.

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

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. ” Members and supporters of the LGBTQ muny attend the "Say Gay Anyway" rally Miami Beach, Florida on March 13, 2022. Opposn Democrats and LGBTQ rights activists have lobbied agast what they ll the "Don't Say Gay" law, which will affect kids krgarten through third gra, when they are eight or ne years old.

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.

‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL: WHAT DO MEAN?

“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.

RON DESANTIS WILL PROUDLY NOT ‘SAY GAY’

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.

WHAT A NATNAL 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD MEAN FOR TN

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.

HERE’S WHAT FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ AND ANTI-'WOKE’ BILLS ACTUALLY SAY

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 lawmakers have been phg Hoe Bill 1557, dubbed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which jt passed the Hoe Judiciary Commtee along party l. The ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill is set to e to bate and a full Hoe vote next week. At s re, the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill outl what seems to be one of the most ntroversial topics today’s news.

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

Florida is not the only state wh bills siar to ‘Don’t Say Gay’. After weeks of ntroversy, cludg eventual nmnatn by the Walt Disney Company, Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill has been signed to law. Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill origally passed the state legislature on March 8, a 22-17 vote.

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

Defenrs of the bill, like DeSantis, have tried to ph back on the “Don’t Say Gay” label, sistg that the bill don’t directly ban the word “gay” om the classroom. Ron DeSantis Will Proudly Not ‘Say Gay’. Parents would be allowed to file a lawsu agast any public or private enty that feral funds to display or facilate ntent featurg LGBTQ an agency or anizatn vlat the rtrictns more than once a five-year perd, uld lose accs to feral funds for three years, acrdg to the bill specifilly mentns drag shows, which have been the recent target of cricism by nservative groups advotg for laws such as this prott ont of Florida State Senator Ileana Garcia's office after the passage of the Parental Rights Edutn bill, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by LGBTQ activists Miami, March 09, Raedle/Getty Imag, FILEProposed bill prompts cricismThe bill sparked immediate backlash om some LGBTQ people and activists across the untry, who say this legislatn misreprents the inti as herently sexual, shameful or assert that this kd of legislatn will silence and harm LGBTQ teachers and stunts, while stigmatizg the muny and threateng ferally fund programs on cln.

"A feral 'Don't Say Gay or Trans' bill – moled after the ntroversial discrimatory law Florida and aimg to drive LGBTQ+ fai and teachers out of the tn system – is their latt cel attempt to stigmatize and margalize the muny, not an attempt to solve actual problems but only to rile up their extremist base, " said David Stacy, the ernment affairs director of LGBTQ advocy group Human Rights Campaign.

THE NSTUTNAL PROBLEM WH FLORIDA’S “DON’T SAY GAY” BILL

Supporters rally to ph back agast the so-lled "Don't Say Gay" at the Pri Center Wilton Manors, Fla., Feb. Several stat have followed Florida's lead, cludg Alabama, which has implemented so-lled "Don't Say Gay" polici of s own.