The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted this week to prohibit official business travel to Florida and Texas over legislation that does not allow the teaching of sexuality and gender identity in schools.
The Hill reported that the board unanimously approved a motion directing the chief executive officer to suspend all county business travel to the two states.
The motion cited how Texas Gov. Greg Abbott launched investigations into the parents of transgender children for possible child abuse. Shortly after, a Democratic Texas judge halted the investigations. The LA County Board of Supervisors as “harmful” and “cruel.”
“Governor Abbott’s order perpetuates damaging ideas about trans and gender nonconforming youth and seeks to punish parents who are trying to do right by their children. LGBTQ+ youth are overrepresented in the child welfare system in part because they experience family rejection due to their identities. Caregivers who support youth with affirming care should in no way be labeled as abusive. This order is discriminatory, harmful, and just plain cruel,” the motion stated.
The motion also attacked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who recently signed the Parental Rights in Education bill, which prohibits the instruction of sexual education and gender orientation to school children under eight-years-old, as Katie noted.
“In Florida, legislation known by opponents as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill was just signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis (R) on March 28. The ‘Parental Rights in Education’ bill prohibits not only ‘instruction’ around gender identity and sexual orientation, but also ‘classroom discussion’ of these topics,” the motion continued. “The kind of school environment imagined in this legislation is one that is uncomfortable, unsafe, unwelcoming, and toxic for all students and staff alike, particularly those who identify as LGBTQ+...this bill would create an atmosphere that stifles such a culture, and stifles learning itself.”
This week, Townhall reported how lawmakers in both Ohio and Alabama have created legislation mirroring Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law.
“Parents’ rights have been increasingly under assault around the nation, but in Florida we stand up for the rights of parents and the fundamental role they play in the education of their children,” DeSantis said in a statement after he signed the bill into law. “Parents have every right to be informed about services offered to their child at school, and should be protected from schools using classroom instruction to sexualize their kids as young as 5 years old.”
On the other hand, Palm Springs, California plans to give universal basic income to transgender and nonbinary residents who meet the poverty threshold beginning sometime over the next year.