Florida’s New ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Laws: What They Mean for Kids | Time

Contents:

• NOT JT FLORIDA. MORE THAN A DOZEN STAT PROPOSE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILLS
• FLORIDA JT PASSED THE "DON'T SAY GAY" BILL. HERE’S WHAT IT MEANS FOR KIDS
• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS
• BIN ON FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW: 'WHAT THE HELL IS GOG ON HERE?'
• DESANTIS SIGNS 'DON'T SAY GAY' EXPANSN AND GENR-AFFIRMG RE BAN
• WHAT IS THE NEW FLORIDA LAW THAT CRICS HAVE DUBBED ‘DON’T SAY GAY’?
• WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT FLORIDA'S NEW 'DON'T SAY GAY' RULE THAT BANS DISCSN OF GENR FOR ALL STUNTS
• LGBTQ GROUPS SUE FLORIDA OVER THE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW
• OPPONENTS CALL IT THE ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL. HERE’S WHAT IT SAYS.

NOT JT FLORIDA. MORE THAN A DOZEN STAT PROPOSE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILLS

Across the Uned Stat, at least a dozen stat are nsirg new legislatn that several ways will mirror Florida's new ntroversial law, referred to by some opponents as "Don't Say Gay. "The stutnalizatn of the bills is an overt form of stctural transphobia and homophobia, and go agast all public health evince creatg a safe and supportive environment for transgenr, nonbary, queer, gay and lbian youths and teachers to thrive, " Arjee Rtar, assistant profsor of epimlogy at the Universy of Washgton, told NPR. Rtar, a social epimlogist and health equy advote, said the ntroversial bills will lim all youths to live to their fullt potential, addg "there should be no room for transphobia and homophobia — pecially the classroom.

" Tennsee's HB 800 bans books and stctnal materials "that promote, normalize, support, or addrs lbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgenr issu or liftyle.

Two years after Arizona lawmakers repealed a law barrg any stctn on HIV or AIDS that that "promot a homosexual liftyle, " they are close to enactg a broad remake of the state's sex tn laws wh a particular foc on LGBTQ issu.

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

"Florida may be the first this wave, but there have been other laws the past that were lled 'no promo homo' laws, which forbid sayg posive thgs about lbian, gay, bisexual, and queer people classrooms, " Simmons told NPR. New York Cy is lnchg a digal billboard mpaign, supportg LGBTQ visibily that will be displayed five major markets Florida for eight weeks, to lure Floridians unhappy wh their state's "Don't Say Gay" law to the Big Apple, Adams announced.

A judge also tossed a lawsu agast Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn law — dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by crics, which prohibs “classroom stctn by school personnel or third parti on sexual orientatn or genr inty” krgarten through eighth gra, “or a manner that is not age-appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts acrdance wh state standards. 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.

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

” 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? 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.

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

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. ”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.

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.

BIN ON FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW: 'WHAT THE HELL IS GOG ON HERE?'

” 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.

DESANTIS SIGNS 'DON'T SAY GAY' EXPANSN AND GENR-AFFIRMG RE BAN

“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. 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. "Members and supporters of the LGBTQ muny at the "Say Gay Anyway" rally Miami Beach, Fla., on March 13.

WHAT IS THE NEW FLORIDA LAW THAT CRICS HAVE DUBBED ‘DON’T SAY GAY’?

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.

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT FLORIDA'S NEW 'DON'T SAY GAY' RULE THAT BANS DISCSN OF GENR FOR ALL STUNTS

”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. Ron DeSantis last month banng teachers om holdg classroom stctn about sexual orientatn or genr inty — the measure dubbed by crics the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Of s self-ernance privileg the state after the pany cricized the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

LGBTQ GROUPS SUE FLORIDA OVER THE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW

In fact, you thk we should not be able to say, you know, ‘gay’? Ron DeSantis signed four bills Wednday rtrictg LGBTQ rights, cludg a measure that expands what crics have lled the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law and another that will ban transn-related re for also signed a bill that will bar trans people om g the public facili that align wh their genr inti and another that will rtrict “adult” performanc ont of mors. ”Florida teachers have said they removed books om their classrooms and cid not to form LGBTQ clubs as a rult of the first eratn of the so-lled “Don’t Say Gay” law.

One teacher, Jenna Barbee, said on social media Saturday that she is beg vtigated by her school and the state’s Edutn Department after showg her fifth gra stunts “Strange World, ” a Disney animated movie featurg an openly gay character. ET): A prev versn of this article misstated when DeSantis signed the so-lled Don’t Say Gay bill to law.

OPPONENTS CALL IT THE ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL. HERE’S WHAT IT SAYS.

– Florida has e unr tense natnal scty over legislatn that crics have labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” GOP legislatn, which Republin Gov. Opponents of the law say banng lsons about genr inty and sexual orientatn margaliz LGBTQ people and their prence that ve, they have labeled the measure the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Florida’s Board of Edutn approved an expansn of the state’s so-lled ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, which will bar teachers om talkg about sexual orientatn and genr for all public school stunts.

“The cisn by the Florida Board of Edutn to extend curriculum bans through twelfth gra is disgraceful — and will rult tastrophic nsequenc for Florida stunts and supportive tors, ” wrote Melanie Willgham-Jaggers, executive director of Gay, Lbian, and Straight Edutn Network, a nonprof found by tors to create affirmg spac for queer youth, an email statement. The expansn of ‘Don’t Say Gay’ laws Florida legislators have also been nsirg a number of bills wh siar provisns to the Parental Rights Edutn law that seek to prohib stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty until eighth gra. The set of three bills beg nsired— Hoe Bill 1223, 1069 and Senate Bill 1320— would expand Don’t Say Gay laws.

It also arriv at a tensn pot between Disney, who publicly nounced Don’t Say Gay, and the ernor. The ntroversial law, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by s opponents, is set to take effect July.