California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom slammed Florida’s far-reaching and dangerous “Don’t Say Gay” bill, urging Sunshine state lawmakers to stop pushing the legislation which he called “nothing short of a state-sponsored intimidation of LGBTQ children.”
Newsom, who has a long history of standing up for LGBTQ people and same-sex marriage, rightly noted that the Florida legislation “will put kids – who are already navigating stress – in physical and psychological danger.”
Indeed, the bill’s sponsor in the House is pushing a dangerous amendment to his own bill. Currently, the bill says schools must tell parents if their children exhibit mental or physical changes, which would include coming out as or even talking about possibly being LGBTQ. The bill allows schools to not inform parents if they feel doing so would put kids in harm.
But Rep. Joe Harding’s amendment would order schools to tell parents they are withholding information about their child’s “mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being, or a change in related services or monitoring,” while not telling parents what that information is.
Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis has signaled he supports the extremist anti-LGBTQ hate bill.
“For the sake of these kids, don’t do this Florida,” Newsom urged.
Image by Thomas Hawk via Flickr and a CC license