WHERE FREEDOM GOES TO DIE

DeSantis Admin Looks to Expand ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill to All Grades

The State Board of Education, stacked with DeSantis allies and other conservatives, will vote on the measure next month.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is looking to expand the “Don’t Say Gay” bill to all grade-levels, a year after a law was passed banning discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation up to the fourth grade. The State Board of Education will take a vote next month on whether to expand the rule to high school seniors. The board is made up of DeSantis allies and members tapped by former Republican Gov. Rick Scott, and DeSantis won’t need the legislature to pass a bill to expand the anti-LGBTQ policy. The bill passed last year, formally titled the Parental Rights in Education Law, has been slammed for propagating baseless theories that sexual orientation or a fourth-grade teacher talking to their class about, say, a student’s two mothers is akin to “grooming.” The expanded rule would allow for exemptions only if the lesson was part of a class required under Florida’s academic standards—which have also been given an “anti-woke” facelift by DeSantis—or part of a health course parents can opt out of. Florida teachers could lose their licenses for violating the rule.