Teachers in Orange County, Florida are being told to scrape rainbow stickers off doors and windows, take photos of their families off their desks if they have a same-sex spouse, and are being directed to report if a student comes out as LGBTQ, as Governor Ron DeSantis‘ “Don’t Say Gay” law goes into effect July 1, according to a teachers’ organization.
Attorneys for the district held meetings with administrators last week, and “advised principals what behaviors would and would not be legal under the law during a ‘Camp Legal’ presentation,” ABC affiliate WFTV reports.
The Orange County Teachers’ Association (CTA) says teachers are also being told they cannot wear rainbows on their clothing, “including lanyards distributed by the district last year.” Elementary school teachers are also being told to not even discuss their families if they have a same-sex spouse.
Stickers denoting a particular classroom is a “safe space” for LGBTQ students and others are to be removed, and “teachers will have to report to parents if a student ‘comes out’ to them and they must use pronouns assigned at birth, regardless of what the parents allow, the CTA reported.”
“It will be alarming if our district chooses to interpret this law in the most extreme way,” CTA President-Elect Clinton McCracken told WFTV. “We want them to protect student privacy. We want them to make sure that they’re creating and helping to create safe classrooms. We believe our school board supports that.”