After years of progrs on gay rights, how did the US bee so anti-LGBTQ+? | US news | The Guardian

Contents:

• LGBT+ PEOPLE ARE FLEEG FLORIDA ‘MASS MIGRATN’ OVER ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ LAW
• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS
• MOVG TO GAY FLORIDA? THG TO KNOW BEFORE RELOTG HERE AS AN LGBT PERSON!

LGBT+ PEOPLE ARE FLEEG FLORIDA ‘MASS MIGRATN’ OVER ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ LAW

A third would make a third-gree felony to provi medil terventns to treat children wh genr dysphoria three passed the Hoe on same day, the Florida Board of Edutn approved a ban on teachg about sexual orientatn and genr inty all gras, expandg the Parental Rights Edutn law that crics have lled the Don’t Say Gay Ron DeSantis, who supports the iativ, along wh Republin lawmakers, say they’re phg the bills to protect rints who are packg their bags say they no longer feel safe livg a state wh legislatn that they believe will harm members of their muny, particularly transgenr kids.

More than half of LGBTQ parents Florida are nsirg movg their fai to another state over ncerns that a new Florida tn law – known to s crics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law – stigmatiz LGBTQ inti and creat a hostile learng environment for LGBTQ children or stunts wh LGBTQ fay members. LGBTQ parents surveyed by the group voiced a variety of ncerns about the “Don’t Say Gay” law’s expected impact on their children, cludg that would rtrict them om speakg eely about their fai, negatively impact their sense of legimacy and enurage a hostile school climate. For some LGBTQ parents, the passage of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law has motivated them to engage more directly muny activism; nearly 20 percent said they participated a monstratn to prott the legislatn over the past 6 months.

The survey of 113 queer parents, nducted by Clark Universy and the Williams Instute at the UCLA School of Law, examed the effects of the Parental Rights Edutn law — the one opponents have slammed as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Acrdg to Plantatn High School sophomore Eric Franzbl, some of his teachers fear they n the risk of losg their jobs if they say the wrong thg, bee of the rtrictns passed by state officials. Ls than a year later, sprg 2022, the Florida Legislature enacted two laws — the Individual Freedom Act, more monly known as the Stop Wrongs Agast our Kids and Employe (WOKE) Act, and the Parental Rights Edutn Act, dubbed by crics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that regulat how race, sexual orientatn, and genr inty n be discsed schools, among other thgs.

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

Earlier:Organizatns, tn advot nounce so-lled ‘Stop WOKE, ’ ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills “That Parental Rights bill was the most dishearteng bee we’re parents, too, ” Price said. ” Sarasota fay ey new untry for dghterA Sarasota mother named Amanda, who asked that her last name not be ed bee of fears for her fay's safety had an klg early on that her elst dghter was gay.

After her 8-year-old dghter intified as gay to her last year, the mother began to qutn whether Sarasota or Florida as a whole were the bt plac for her fay. ViewPe View class print says school seeks to censor graduatn speech over so-lled 'Don't Say Gay' lawThe uple eventually narrowed down their relotn optns to Canada, where they plan to move to wh the next year.

However, acrdg to a 2023 Gallup poll, 55 percent of Amerins were satisfied wh the acceptance of gay and lbian people, while 38 percent were dissatisfied. Equaly Florida also listed a seri of legislative steps the state had taken regardg the cln of LGBTQ+ ntent the tn said a law dubbed "Don't Say Gay"—barrg teachers om krgarten to third-gra stunts public schools om discsg sexual orientatn and genr inty the classroom—had ma Florida "synonymo wh the anti-LGBTQ+ movement to empower ernment censorship. LGBT+ advocy group Lambda Legal said a statement that the bills revealed a “llo disregard for LGBTQ+ Floridians and, particular, trans youth by facilatg homophobia and transphobia and exposg this most vulnerable populatn to discrimatn, harassment, and abe”.

AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS

Democratic Florida State Senator Shevr Jon, who is gay, told CNN that “they have cloaked themselv beg the party of ls ernment and parental rights, and what we’re seeg now is the total oppose”. A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law.

The ernor and his supporters have labeled as a “groomer” anyone who believ children n learn LGBTQ+ people exist, argug that simply by talkg about gay relatnships to a child, you are sexualizg that child.

”To be gay, their view, is to be herently sexualized, a threat to nocence a way that straight Amerins are vehemence has ught even veteran LGBTQ+ advot by surprise.

MOVG TO GAY FLORIDA? THG TO KNOW BEFORE RELOTG HERE AS AN LGBT PERSON!

He was followed by Arizona’s ernor, Doug Ducey, who, after barrg mors om genr-affirmatn treatment, wouldn’t even state for the rerd that trans people were Florida lawmaker Michele Rayner-Goolsby, left, hugs her wife, Bian Goolsby, durg a march at cy hall St Petersburg agast the ‘don’t say gay’ bill. Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children” rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”.

The Republin US reprentative Marjorie Taylor Greene vowed to troduce a feral “don’t say gay” bill if Republins w the Hoe this November, only to one-up herself days later by tweetg that for people to be pro-trans is to be pro-pedophilia. ”The bs-iendly wg of the GOP that would quietly team up wh Democrats to scuttle rabidly homophobic bills is now outnumbered, and legislators a dozen or more stat that lean even farther to the right than DeSantis are takg, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights legal director, believ Florida is the tt se for a renewed ph for an aggrsive, Christian-natnalist program. ”The “don’t say gay” bill, Mter not, is very siar to what’s been passed Rsia, tetherg Amerin nservativ to their thorarian unterparts who have succsfully rolled back mocratic norms across eastern Europe.

“I’ve seen this movie before over the last 30 years: The right wg cid to target the LGBTQ muny, whether ’s around marriage or adoptn or trans kids playg sports or bathrooms, ” says the California state senator Stt Wiener, who is gay. “I thought was really important to ph back on the policy level, and to send a clear signal that California and other stat really re about the kids, ” he believ that “don’t say gay” is “patently unnstutnal” but also ntends that relyg on the judicial system to protect human rights may no longer be a sound optn. Ron DeSantis, proponents of the “Don’t Say Gay” law passed last March argue that such measur are need to help parents ensure their young children are not exposed to rmatn about sexual orientatn and genr inty they might disapprove of.