On Wednesday, officials in the Florida Department of Education approved an expansion the state’s Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed by leftists as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
The law ensures that discussions in school surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity are outlawed for children through third grade. Any discussions of the subject matter above that grade level must be age-appropriate.
According to Fox 13, the proposed rule would ban lessons on gender identity and sexual orientation from fourth grade through high school. The exception to this would be reproductive health class that students can opt out of. The rule does not need legislative approval.
Reportedly, violating the rule could result in the suspension or revocation of an educator’s teaching license.
Today, I signed HB 1557, the Parental Rights in Education Act, into law.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 28, 2022
It ensures parents can send their kids to kindergarten without gender ideology being injected into instruction and they will be notified and have the right to decline healthcare services offered at schools. pic.twitter.com/OLnW2GLrJl
“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 when he first signed parental rights 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.”
And, earlier this year, at a joint meeting between the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine, the two groups decided against doing away with a state rule against transgender care for children. This type of care includes puberty blockers, as well as irreversible hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgeries.
In February, a federal appeals court upheld a Florida school district’s policy requiring students to use restrooms that align with their biological sex instead of their gender identity.
In the 50-page opinion, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Barbara Lagoa said that the school district’s policy protects students and that "sex" does not include the concept of "gender identity."