What Is the “Don’t Say Gay” Law Really About? - The Rger

Contents:

• IN SOME STAT, VERSNS OF ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILLS HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR AWHILE
• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• FLORIDA JT PASSED THE "DON'T SAY GAY" BILL. HERE’S WHAT IT MEANS FOR KIDS
• FLORIDA HOE PASS NTROVERSIAL 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL
• FLORIDA'S NTROVERSIAL 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL: WHAT'S SI THE PROPOSED LAW
• WHAT'S THE SO-LLED DON'T SAY GAY BILL THAT ULD IMPACT THE WHOLE UNTRY
• WHAT IS THE “DON’T SAY GAY” LAW REALLY ABOUT?
• FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'
• ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL: FLORIDA SENATE PASS NTROVERSIAL LGBTQ SCHOOL MEASURE

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

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A year ago, “Don’t Say Gay” laws that had passed the 1980s were nsired archaic, LGBTQ+ advot said, wh many of them repealed over the years.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

FLORIDA HOE PASS NTROVERSIAL 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL

“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. Ron DeSantis’ cisn to ph the “Don’t Say Gay” bill Florida is ls about kids and more about the Republin’s printial ambns.

FLORIDA'S NTROVERSIAL 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL: WHAT'S SI THE PROPOSED LAW

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.

WHAT'S THE SO-LLED DON'T SAY GAY BILL THAT ULD IMPACT THE WHOLE UNTRY

Alarmgly rtrictive laws ntue to proliferate across much of the Raedle / GettyThe red-state drive to roll back civil rights is enterg a new phase, perhaps bt symbolized by Florida’s passage this week of the “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” bill censorg how schools discs sexual orientatn. The refal of the Walt Disney Company, one of Florida’s most powerful employers, to publicly cricize Florida’s “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” bill as moved through the legislature has quickly e to symbolize a retreat om the loud public opposn that many pani exprsed to earlier state iativ rtrictg civil liberti, such as the “bathroom bill” North Carola Republins approved the broad range of socially nservative iativ that Florida’s Republin ernor, Ron DeSantis, and the GOP state legislature have advanced sce 2021, bs has been “silent, silent as fuck, they are so silent, ” says Florida Democratic State Reprentative Anna Eskamani, echog a plat I heard across several stat om Democrats and civil-rights advot this week. This clus laws limg accs to abortn, rtrictg votg rights, banng transgenr girls om participatg high-school or llege sports, barrg transn medil treatment for transgenr mors, censorg how teachers n talk about current or historil racial and genr equi, removg licensg requirements to publicly rry firearms, creasg penalti for public protters, and immunizg drivers who h and jure Watch what’s happeng red statFlorida alone has passed almost every em on that list, and this week add the “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” bill rtrictg classroom discsn of sexual orientatn.

” Although many big rporatns touted their mment to Black History Month Febary, he not, they “are not willg to put their hand on the sle to stop the removal of Mart Luther Kg and Rosa Parks om our public schools” or to stand up unequivolly for votg rporate rponse was even more muted to the “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” legislatn Florida passed Tuday. Disney’s reticence on the “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” bill ntrasted wh s activist role agast other nservative legislatn unr s former chairman and CEO Robert Iger.

WHAT IS THE “DON’T SAY GAY” LAW REALLY ABOUT?

”Bin also tweeted stern opposn to Florida’s “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” bill, and when passed on Tuday, Edutn Secretary Miguel Cardona issued a stronger statement of nmnatn than he’s offered on any of the earlier state-level bills targetg curriculum.

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?

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

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. Febary 24, 2022, 3:39 PMThe Parental Rights Edutn bill, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by LGBTQ activists, has been passed by the Florida Hoe of Reprentativ.

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

Florida's Parental Rights Edutn bill, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by LGBTQ activists, is on Gov. Meanwhile, bate ntu on this legislatn and what would mean for schools, teachers, stunts and bill n be read full do the 'Don't Say Gay' legislatn exactly say? Defg those terms, cludg "heterosexualy, homosexualy or bisexualy" and "genr-related inty, appearance or behavr, " uld clear up what the bill would ban, she said.

Florida Hoe Republins advanced a bill, dubbed by opponents as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, to forbid discsns of sexual orientatn and genr inty schools. Danny Burgs also later add that the standard unrstandg of the terms is what the law would activists ll "Don't Say Gay"? Durg the Senate bate, Baxley slammed the nickname bee the bill do not have the word "gay" .

However, the bill's nickname om activists has bee "Don't Say Gay" and "Don't Say Trans" bee advot have said they believe would make LGBTQ people taboo once aga classrooms, settg back the progrs ma by the LGBTQ muny the last few advocy anizatns say the bills are remiscent of the "no promo homo" laws of the 1990s that barred tors om discsg LGBTQ topics school classrooms. A sign was ed a "Don't Say Gay" prott downtown Fort Myers, March 6, 2022. The march was held to prott Florida's "Don't Say Gay" Wt/The News-Prs via USA Today NetworkAt least four stat still have such laws on the books, cludg Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma.