MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The state board of education voted Wednesday to ban lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity from grades four through 12, expanding the parental rights law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”
“These decisions should be left at home for the parents to decide when and if their child should be exposed to these materials,” said Ryan Kennedy with the Florida Citizens Alliance. “The rule is taking us back; it’s reinforcing the othering of the LGBT community, and as a parent, what about my parental rights to have my son be able to see his family reflected at school.”
The expansion creates a dilemma for school board members in Miami-Dade County, who will have to dissect what it means for teachers.
“I think the rule obviously lacks some prior ambiguity and that caused some confusion,” said school board member Steve Gallon.
Added school board member Lucia Baez-Geller: “Right now, our students and our teachers, many of them, feel attacked, they feel threatened and they feel excluded.”
It was last year when the state legislature passed a law banning sexual orientation and gender identity lessons in kindergarten through third grade, a move that drew intense backlash from people in the LGBTQ community who argued that the law is vague for a problem that does not exist.
“We are not removing anything here,” said Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz. “All we’re doing is we are setting the expectation so that our teachers are clear that they are to teach to the standards.”
Though if you ask teachers, they refute that.
“Let’s be clear, this legislation will limit free speech and could affect curriculum in English, history and other classes,” said Miami-Dade Teachers Union President Karla Hernandez-Mats.
Added Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco: “Nobody wants to go in a classroom and purposely teach something inappropriate, and I’m going to make this clear, it’s not happening.”