Florida Teachers Confed By So-Called 'Don't Say Gay' Law | Time

Contents:

• AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS
• FLORIDA TEACHERS NAVIGATE THEIR FIRST YEAR UNR THE 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW
• ‘IT’S HAD A CHILLG EFFECT’: FLORIDA TEACHERS ANX ABOUT ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL
• LGBTQ TEACHERS STGGLE TO NAVIGATE FLORIDA'S SO-CALLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW
• TEACHERS FEAR THE CHILLG EFFECT OF FLORIDA'S SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW
• I’M A GAY KRGARTEN TEACHER FLORIDA. THE ARE THE QUTNS I’M ASKG MYSELF.
• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• SOME SOUTH FLORIDA TEACHERS SAY 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW IS MAKG THEM NSIR LEAVG THE CLASSROOM
• LGBTQ+ TEACHERS TOLD TO HI WHO THEY ARE AS DON’T SAY GAY GO TO EFFECT
• IN A DEEP-RED FLORIDA COUNTY, THIS GAY TEACHER QU TO SAVE HER CAREER
• FLORIDA TEACHER UNR VTIGATN FOR SHOWG DISNEY MOVIE WH GAY CHARACTER SAYS SHE DIDN’T KNOW LGBTQ RTRICTN APPLIED TO HER CLASS
• HOW FLORIDA TEACHERS PLAN TO AL WH 'DON'T SAY GAY' L
• CAN FLORIDA’S GAY TEACHERS SHOW PHOTOS? THE WHE HOE CLAIMED NOT.
• FLORIDA SCHOOL SYSTEM HAS CLOSED VTIGATN TO TEACHER WHO SHOWED DISNEY MOVIE WH GAY CHARACTER

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

As Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn law — or what crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law — go to effect Friday, some of the state’s public school districts have begun rollg out new polici to lim LGBTQ issu and inti om beg discsed the Tuday night, the Leon County School Board unanimoly approved s “LGBTQ Inclive School Gui, ” which clus a provisn to alert parents if a stunt who is “open about their genr inty” is their child’s physil tn class or wh them on an overnight school trip. Clifford / AP fileThe so-lled Don’t Say Gay law, HB 1557, bans “stctn” about sexual orientatn or genr inty “ krgarten through gra 3 or a manner that is not age appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts acrdance wh state standards. ” A provisn the law also requir school staff members to alert parents about “cril cisns affectg a stunt’s mental, emotnal, or physil health or well-beg, ” which many advot have terpreted as a way to force tors to out their gay or trans stunts.

They have also ntend that will not prohib teachers and stunts om talkg about their LGBTQ fai or bar classroom discsns about LGBTQ history, cludg events like the 2016 attack at the Pulse gay nightclub crics and legal experts have said the broad language of the law uld open school districts and teachers to lawsus om parents who believe any nversatn about LGBTQ people or issu is “not age appropriate. Carlos Smh, a Democrat who is gay and has been an outspoken cric of the new law, said he was “not surprised” that schools the state were announcg the polici and guil. “What’s happeng right now — wh the censorship of rabow flags and school districts preparg to basilly ph LGBTQ stunts and teachers to the closet — is exactly what we said would happen wh the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law.

FLORIDA TEACHERS NAVIGATE THEIR FIRST YEAR UNR THE 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW

"Members and supporters of the LGBTQ muny at the "Say Gay Anyway" rally Miami Beach, Fla., on March 13. Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty Imag fileFive other stat — all of them the South — have enacted laws that lim stctn or discsns about LGBTQ people or issu school, and at least 32 others have proposed such measur this year, acrdg to acrdg to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ thk tank that has been trackg the strsed that the polici will have nsequenc for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer stunts, potg to the disproportnately high rat of suici attempts among the untry’s LGBTQ youths. ”In Palm Beach County, Woods, who is gay, said that after they received the qutnnaire om school officials to flag urse material or books wh LGBTQ referenc, many of his lleagu are nervo they’ll be reprimand if they miss somethg.

One of the measur, the Parental Rights Edutn law — or what crics have lled the “Don’t Say Gay” law — 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. “I’ve been extremely overwhelmed as a gay man who now is openly out, bee I have to be the advote, ” he said. “People know I’m a unn lear, and they know that I’m a gay man.

Michael Woods, a high school special tn teacher Palm Beach unty, Florida, wh 30 years of experience teachg and who grew up as a stunt the area who was bullied for beg gay, said he cried the night before this school year began Augt 2022 bee of anxiety related to Florida’s “don’t say gay” bill that went to effect July 2022. “As a gay teacher, as a queer male, ’s been paful for me, ’s been very paful and very upsettg, ” said Woods.

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

“The bills are all based on false pretens, they’re li, they’re based on li, they make assumptns that somethg is happeng our schools area, that teachers are somehow doctratg our stunts, teachg them to be gay, or whatever the se may be, ” said Andrew Spar, print of the Florida Edutn add: “I thk the biggt thg gog to the school year is the unknown, bee this bill and the other bills that are out there, give parents the abily to brg plats agast teachers, brg lawsus agast school districts, and we jt don’t know how ’s gog to play out.

”Ron DeSantis, the ernor of Florida, signg the ‘don’t say gay’ bill March 2022. ” This fall is the first school year which teachers and school admistrators mt follow Florida’s HB 1557—lled the “Parental Rights Edutn” statute by lawmakers and dubbed the Don’t Say Gay law by crics—that banned 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 acrdance wh state standards.

) “All we want as tors is to create a safe space for our stunts and teach them to rpect each other, ” says Brian Kerek, a gay high school math teacher Osceola County, Florida. Cory Bernaert, a gay krgarten teacher Parrish, Florida, says his curriculum has never clud discsns of genr inty or sexual orientatn.

LGBTQ TEACHERS STGGLE TO NAVIGATE FLORIDA'S SO-CALLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW

) “The fact that someone has to say to the teachers that you n have a picture of your spoe on your sk, shows the environment they’re havg to work , ” says McCracken, who is gay. Michael Woods, a gay high school special tn teacher Palm Beach County, says he terpreted Palm Beach’s school district’s guidance to mean that if a stunt tells him somethg about their genr or pronouns, he mt notify the kid’s parents. It's a bill that's drawn natnwi ntroversy, dubbed by opponents as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

TEACHERS FEAR THE CHILLG EFFECT OF FLORIDA'S SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW

Unr the new law, he wonrs, will be nsired age-appropriate to tell his stunts that the Revolutnary War hero, the Pssian General Friedrich Wilhelm Von Stben, is wily believed to have been openly gay?

Demonstrators gather to prott what opponents ll the "Don't Say Gay" bill on the steps of the Florida Historic Capol Mm Tallahassee on March 7, 2022. As a gay man, he says, tells him and his LGBTQ stunts that there's somethg "appropriate" about them: that their inty is taboo, or somehow dirty.

I’M A GAY KRGARTEN TEACHER FLORIDA. THE ARE THE QUTNS I’M ASKG MYSELF.

"I n tell you as someone who grew up as a gay boy, how real that statistic is, " he says, "and how dangero is that the Republin legislators are playg wh the safety of our vulnerable youth. "So yeah, I'm not teachg kids how to be gay my classroom, but I'll tell you what I am dog. As a krgarten teacher who is gay and has pictur of himself and his partner his classroom, I regularly answer qutns om my stunts like: “Mr.

Calls and emails were ma to my supertennt mandg my termatn, far-right news outlets began nng headl like “Gay krgarten teacher wants to talk to his kids about his love life, ” and the number of random-number phone lls to my personal cellphone creased twofold.

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

And a key part of that tn is the necsary, valuable buildg block of muny is built the classroom, the level of engagement I see my stunts mak hard to believe they are only 5 and 6 years the Parental Rights Edutn law, which crics have lled the “Don’t Say Gay” law, ultimately eros that muny. RelatedRon DeSantis’ woke math sndal shows how he’s bee more dangero than TmpFlorida’s anti-gay bill is wrong.

SOME SOUTH FLORIDA TEACHERS SAY 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW IS MAKG THEM NSIR LEAVG THE CLASSROOM

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.

LGBTQ+ TEACHERS TOLD TO HI WHO THEY ARE AS DON’T SAY GAY GO TO EFFECT

“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. “A lot of tst is given to teachers, and ma seem like I wasn’t tsted bee there’s somethg wrong wh me for beg gay, ” he said. “It mak seem like beg gay is somethg vile or disturbg or disgtg when ’s scribed as makg children unfortable knowg that I’m married to a man.

IN A DEEP-RED FLORIDA COUNTY, THIS GAY TEACHER QU TO SAVE HER CAREER

” While the Orlando parents did not succeed havg Thollanr discipled or oted, he and other LGBTQ teachers the state worry that newly signed state law — tled Parental Rights Edutn but dubbed by crics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law — will galvanize parents to take siar actn agast them.

FLORIDA TEACHER UNR VTIGATN FOR SHOWG DISNEY MOVIE WH GAY CHARACTER SAYS SHE DIDN’T KNOW LGBTQ RTRICTN APPLIED TO HER CLASS

Lawmakers who support the law have repeatedly strsed that would not prohib teachers and stunts om talkg about their LGBTQ fai or bar classroom discsns about LGBTQ history, cludg events like the 2016 attack at the Pulse nightclub, a gay club Orlando.

They need tors that look and remble them, ” said Kerek, who is gay. ”“Teachers do not go out of their way to create the moments where we’re ‘doctratg’ stunts, ” said Woods, who is gay.

HOW FLORIDA TEACHERS PLAN TO AL WH 'DON'T SAY GAY' L

Florida teachers who are gay or trans are pecially worried they won’t be able to do that anymore, bee of the new Parental Rights Edutn law, which opponents refer to as "Don't Say Gay. She's gay and she rigned earlier this year while Hoe Bill 1557 was still beg bated.

Medvetz is gay. LGBTQ+ school staff Florida have been told to hi pictur of their same genr spoe and not wear rabows as ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law go to effect.

LGBTQ+ teachers Florida said they’ve been told they mt hi their inti while at work so as not to vlate the state’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. Durg the meetg, OSPC attorneys advised prcipals across the school district on what would and wouldn’t be legal unr Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, which is slated to take effect Friday (1 July). Another OCPS official said a separate nversatn that the district need to be ut the wake of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law gog to effect until the state provid more clary on how the legislatn would be enforced.

CAN FLORIDA’S GAY TEACHERS SHOW PHOTOS? THE WHE HOE CLAIMED NOT.

Florida ernor Ron DeSantis signed the state’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ legislatn to law March. Robert Thollanr left the school after 11 years of workg Florida as a teacher and said the cint ma him feel like he “wasn’t tsted bee there’s somethg wrong” wh him for beg gay. “It mak seem like beg gay is somethg vile or disturbg or disgtg when ’s scribed as makg children unfortable knowg that I’m married to a man, ” Thollanr said.

FLORIDA SCHOOL SYSTEM HAS CLOSED VTIGATN TO TEACHER WHO SHOWED DISNEY MOVIE WH GAY CHARACTER

Nilette Solomon, a teacher Miami-Da County, told the outlet that the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law would “erase” her as an “LGBTQ” teacher”. “No one is teachg your kids to be gay! “Sometim they jt are gay.

I lerally don’t have time to teach your kids to be gay.

”“This gay teacher, who accepts her stunts exactly as they are, outsred the unty by 15% geometry and outsred the state by 10%, ” she add.