Tuesday morning at 11:45 AM Republicans in the Florida Senate passed anti-LGBTQ legislation known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which includes ill-defined yet sweeping language banning “classroom instruction” of LGBTQ issues, history, and people, and requiring in many instances schools to “out” LGBTQ children to their parents.
The vote was 22-17.
GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has signaled support for the bill over the past few weeks. On Monday he made clear his intention to sign it.
“We are going to make sure parents are able to send their kid to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into some of their school curriculum,” DeSantis said, as The Washington Post reported.
The legislation is part of a wider attack on civil rights by the increasingly authoritarian Republican Party. LGBTQ activists are warning about bills across the country, and executive orders like the one in Texas that now classifies necessary medical services for transgender youth and teens as “child abuse.”
This is a breaking news and developing story.