The Parental Rights in Education bill passed its final committee hearing, and has moved to the Senate floor for a full vote this week.
The Parental Rights in Education legislation passed the House committee by a vote of 69 to 47, and was advanced by the state Senate Appropriations Committee on a 12-to-8 vote.
If signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the bill would bar Florida educators from speaking to primary-school-age students about certain LGBTQ+ topics that are not considered “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”
At a press conference in Jacksonville on March 4, the Republican governor defended the bill, saying it’s about “no sexual instruction” given to young students.
“When you actually look at the bill and it says ‘no sexual instruction to kids pre-K through three,’ how many parents want their kids to have transgenderism or something injected into classroom instruction?” DeSantis said to reporters. “It’s basically saying for our younger students, do you really want them being taught about sex? And this is any sexual stuff. But I think clearly right now, we see a focus on transgenderism, telling kids they may be able to pick genders and all of that.”
Parents would also have greater authority to take legal action against school districts.
Republican State Sen. Jeffrey Brandes on March 4 filed an amendment to remove “sexual orientation and gender identity” from the bill to replace it with “human sexuality and sexual activity” to make it more related to sex education, which is already heavily regulated in Florida, according to Equality Florida. The amendment failed in a vote along party lines.
State Sen. Dennis Baxley, a Republican who sponsored the Senate companion bill said during committee on Feb 28 that he is “a guy who doesn’t hate anyone.”
“I am really amazed at how something so simple turned into this,” he said, adding that the bill’s anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment has been “fabricated by the media.”
“This does one simple thing–it decides who’s in charge,” Baxley continued. “I’m not trying to demonize anybody; I’m not trying to negate the values of teachers. I’m just trying to come back to center point. Parents must be in charge of these decisions.”
Democratic legislators disagreed, arguing that the bill is discriminatory and a “solution in search of a problem.”
“I don’t ever remember telling my young students, ‘Don’t worry, you don’t have to pick a gender,’” Democrat state Sen. Lauren Book, a former educator, said during the Feb. 28 committee hearings. “I don’t remember teaching LGBTQ propaganda from secret lesson plans. And I don’t remember breaking any Florida law by telling a parent that they couldn’t review my lesson plans.”
“It didn’t happen. It didn’t happen then, and it doesn’t happen now,” she continued. “Florida educators are not indoctrinating young children with age-inappropriate or developmentally inappropriate curriculum. These are professionals.”
Students from all over the state gathered on the capitol steps in Tallahassee. Some were there to testify against the bill.
LGBTQ+ rights groups on Feb. 28 spoke out against the Senate committee’s passage of the bill.
“Removing LGBTQ people and topics from public schools will only work to further shame a group of young people who already face disproportionate rates of discrimination, bullying, and suicide attempts,” Amit Paley, CEO and Executive Director of The Trevor Project said in a written statement. “LGBTQ students and families deserve to see themselves reflected in the classroom. What they don’t deserve is stigma and censorship from the government.”
