Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill into law on Monday, which critics have derided as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
HB 1557 prohibits classroom instruction regarding “sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade “or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards” for those in higher grades.
“As many of you know, I think the last couple of years have really revealed to parents that they are being ignored increasingly across our country when it comes to their kids’ education,” DeSantis said at a bill signing ceremony at Classical Preparatory School in Spring Hill, Florida, north of Tampa.
“We have seen curriculum embedded for very, very young children, classroom materials about sexuality and woke gender ideology. We have seen libraries that have clearly inappropriate pornographic materials for very young kids,” the governor added.
DeSantis provided the example of the GenderBread person in a grade school book.
“It’s trying to say that they can be whatever they want to be. This is inappropriate for kindergartners and first graders and second graders. Parents do not want this going on in their schools,” he said.
Speaking in front of a sign that says, “Protect children/Support parents,” Governor Desantis says this image of the “Genderbread man,” is one of the reasons the state needs the so-called “Don’t say gay bill.” https://t.co/tETUUI7jta pic.twitter.com/DWkTwA05jv
— CBS4 News Gainesville (@mycbs4) March 28, 2022
HB 1557 also codifies parents’ rights to decline any mental, emotional and physical health services available to their children at school and that parents must be notified of their children’s use of them unless there is reason to believe “that disclosure would subject the student to abuse, abandonment or neglect.”
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