(LifeSite) In the latest move to build on the Sunshine State’s conservative policy gains, the Florida Department of Education (DOE) under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved rules extending the prohibition on LGBT material in public schools to all grade levels.
Last year, DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education law, which bans schools from teaching children in kindergarten through third grade about transgenderism and other sexuality-related issues, limits discussions of sexuality for older children to “age appropriate” content and requires parents to be informed of any changes that could affect their child’s physical, emotional, or mental well-being.
Left-wing activists and their media allies misleadingly dubbed the measure a “Don’t-Say-Gay Bill,” framing it as a hateful attack on LGBT teachers and students and scoffing at the notion that it tackles a real problem, despite scores of examples of teachers engaging in LGBT activism in schools.
Last month, the Florida Board of Education released a proposed rule to expand the new standards, which would modify Florida schools’ “principles of professional conduct” to ban lessons on gender and sexual identity in all grade levels starting at kindergarten, while in grades 4-12, such lessons would be banned unless “expressly required” by Florida academic standards or as part of a class on reproductive health, in which case parents could chose to pull their children from a class.
There is no reason for instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to be part of K-12 public education.
Full stop. https://t.co/yVKNwqFrxV
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) March 22, 2023
Students should be spending their time in school learning core academic subjects, not being force-fed radical gender and sexual ideology.
In Florida, we’re preserving the right of kids to be kids. pic.twitter.com/9WPmbn3vhK
— Manny Diaz Jr. (@SenMannyDiazJr) March 22, 2023
The state DOE approved the rule on Wednesday, the Daily Caller reported. It is slated to take effect in roughly a month.
