FLORIDA – The Republican-led state of Florida is expected to expand the controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law to ban the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in all school grades.
The move, which comes as Republican Governor Ron DeSantis lays the groundwork for a widely expected presidential run, has drawn criticism from the White House, which called it “completely, utterly wrong.”
If approved by the Florida Board of Education on April 19, teachers will be prohibited from teaching topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity to students from the fourth grade through to their final year of high school.
The new rule has already been approved by the Department of Education, which is led by DeSantis appointees, and will not need legislative approval to take effect.
“This is a part of a disturbing and dangerous trend that we’re seeing across the country of legislation that is anti-LGBTQI+, anti-trans,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday.
The move has been criticized by activists, including Equality Florida.
“This has been the goal all along: sweeping censorship and book banning targeting LGBTQ people in service to his presidential ambitions,” the group tweeted, referring to DeSantis.
“Now educators, in any grade level, and their livelihoods are being placed directly in the crosshairs for acknowledging that LGBTQ people exist.”
Governor DeSantis, who won reelection in 2022, has made battling politicians, teachers, and businesses he accuses of wanting to impose a progressive “woke” ideology on others a central concern of his second term.
He has courted conservative voters with controversial proposals on education and immigration in recent months, as jockeying for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination heats up.
“This is not an anti-LGBT law. It’s a law ensuring that parents have the right to oversee the education of their children,” said State Representative Byron Donalds, a Republican, in support of the law.
The new restrictions are an expansion of last year’s initiative, which applied only to kindergarten through third grade.
If approved, the ban will be enforced in all grades, putting the livelihoods of teachers who acknowledge the existence of LGBTQ people in jeopardy.
