Florida GOP ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill advances in House

The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Joe Harding, states that “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” A parent could sue a district for violations.

Harding has maintained that the bill would not prevent spontaneous discussions about the topics and said the legislation is meant to stop a district from integrating them into curriculum. Critics have said the language of the bill is broad enough to apply to any grade and could open districts to lawsuits from parents who believe any conversation to be inappropriate.

On Tuesday, during a debate on how a teacher should handle a question about a student with two mothers, Harding rejected those concerns, saying “The idea that somehow within this bill we are preventing a teacher from having discussions with their students is just incorrect.”

“Discussions about the different types of families, maybe an instruction relating to different types of families understanding that gender and sexual orientation relating to those students and getting deep into that part is exactly what we’re talking about,” he said. “Nowhere in here are we eliminating a discussion about the different types of families. I think that’s probably the biggest misquote on what the bill actually does.”