OPINION: Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill is immoral

The Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill has now been passed in Florida and is awaiting a signature from the governor. The bill severely limits what can be taught about sexual orientation or gender identity in schools.  

The bill’s ambiguous wording says discussion about “sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”  

Effectively, this bill outright bans the acknowledgment of non-straight identities in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms and opens the following years to large amounts of interpretation of what is “appropriate” in school.  

This means that if a high school senior doesn’t want to hear about gay people in their class, they and their parents could make the argument that it’s inappropriate and take action against the school. So, while it isn’t banned outright, it’s unlikely teachers beyond third-grade would be willing to take that chance and risk repercussions.  

In this single piece of legislation, the state of Florida has set the groundwork for decades of ignorance, hate and bigotry. It’s almost impressive.  

By banning the subject of queer identities, especially in younger grades, this bill is teaching the kids in Florida that being queer is taboo. This action teaches that being anything other than straight or cisgender is something you should never address or share, so that kids learn to be ashamed of their own identities or even hate themselves or others for theirs.  

The queer youth community cannot afford any more attacks on their mental health like this. A national survey by the Trevor Project found that 42%of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in 2021. The survey also found that more than half of transgender and nonbinary youths surveyed seriously considered suicide.  

Rep. Joe Harding, the Republican who introduced the bill, said the bill is about “empowering parents” and improving the quality of life for the state’s children. While he never said it, this bill clearly shows that this empowerment and improvement of life only applies to straight parents and children. This bill does nothing to empower queer parents and one could argue it worsens the quality of queer children’s lives, teaching them and the straight kids around them that being queer is wrong.  

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has shown his support for the bill and signaled he plans to sign it. “We’re going to make sure that parents are able to send their kid to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into their school curriculum,” he said. “This stuff,” as he says, is validation. Validation that being queer is ok, not something that should be hidden away from kids and avoided like an illness.  

Illness is something Florida knows a lot about. Since the start of the pandemic, Florida has consistently been one of the highest states for COVID case numbers. Instead of focusing on recovering from the academic and mental health tolls the pandemic has taken, these representatives and the governor have instead chosen to focus legislation to attack a group of people whose mental health has already been historically an issue.  

In addition to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, 15 other bills in eight states are currently under consideration that would similarly limit speech about queer identities in classrooms. Seven states, Alabama, Texas, Arizona, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi, all have laws in effect already that explicitly prohibit the positive portrayal of homosexuality in schools. Of course, these bills say nothing about prohibiting negative portrayal.  

The “Don’t Say Gay” bill goes against all progress made by the LGBTQ community in recent years. It is an act of mental war on queer youth, setting a foundation of shame and ignorance across the state at an early age.  

In an emotional speech on the House floor, Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith spoke against Florida’s bill. “I want to make sure that for those LGBTQ youth in Florida and around the country and in the world who are watching, I want to make sure that they know this: You are loved.” Smith said. “You are supported. And we will wake up every single day to fight for you, because you are worth fighting for.” 

Tracy Mullinax can be reached at [email protected]