There are now only three things that can stop Florida’s likely unconstitutional and definitely damaging and dangerous “Don’t Say Gay” bill from becoming the law of the land: failure to pass in the Senate this week (extremely unlikely), failure to be signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis who supports the bill (so again, extremely unlikely), or a block from a Florida court (again, extremely unlikely).
On Monday Florida Democrats waged their best efforts to at least slow down the legislation, Florida Politics reports, which passed with a strong GOP majority in the House last week. The Senate bill passed the Appropriations Committee Monday.
The legislation will ban “classroom instruction” of issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-3 and in all grade levels throughout the state when schools deem it not “age-appropriate,” a term that currently has no legal definition. Schools can be sued if a parent disagrees with what is age-appropriate, so that quells free speech out of the box.
The legislation also mandates schools “out” LGBTQ children to their parents, unless the school feels doing so could put the student at risk. Again, schools can be sued if a parent disagrees with their decision.
Democratic state Rep. Carlos G. Smith, Florida’s first LGBTQ Latino legislator, tried to speak before the Senate Appropriations Committee – the only Senate committee hearing the bill – but was refused. An amendment from Democrats to alter the language of the bill to read “human sexuality” instead of “sexual orientation and gender identity” was also blocked.
Florida Republican state Sen. Dennis Baxley (photo), the sponsor of the Senate’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, on Monday called the legislation “empowerment of parents,” and says “they’re supposed to be in charge.”
The claim is both false and dangerous. Few parents are educators or child development specialists. Few parents agree on every issue, how to raise children, or what they should be learning and when. Teachers and school administrators are experts, and usually, train years before they walk into a classroom.
“That is describing what goes on around social value issues,” Baxley said, ” when you try to reach over from the educational arm of our society, and address these in a way that doesn’t observe the authority of parents to establish those values.”
Baxley freely talked about his wife and their five children at the end of the debate, something he did not consider could be quelled in schools by his bill if he were talking about his husband instead of his wife. He insisted doesn’t “hate anybody” and “loves” everyone.
Democratic state Sen. Jason Pizzo said: “If there are people who honestly believe that you choose to be gay, then you would also have to accept and believe that millions of people choose to be abused, to be bullied, to be ridiculed, to be told they’re different, to be cast aside.”
“Let me just say this: Why are we picking on people?” Pizzo asked.
Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book, a former kindergarten teacher, “challenged Baxley’s assertion reflecting on her time as a primary school teacher,” Florida Politics adds, “arguing that she doesn’t remember ‘teaching LGBTQ propaganda from secret lesson plans.’”
“It didn’t happen. It didn’t happen then and it doesn’t happen now. This is another ‘solution in search of a problem’-style bill that we’ve grown so used to,” Book said. “Florida educators are not indoctrinating young children with age-inappropriate or developmentally appropriate curriculum. … This is about more than words written in the bill. This is about the message that we’re sending to every single person in the state and around the country, because everybody is watching.”