FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – School districts are waiting for the Florida Department of Education’s rules on the new state law that critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” — because it allows some parents to file lawsuits if there is instruction on gender identity.
The U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said Monday he will be monitoring if the implementation of the controversial law violates federal civil rights law.
The most controversial part of the law: “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.”
Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Vickie Cartwright said “the real story” about the law is that it encourages teachers and administrators to “out” children rather than engage in a “very deliberate process and really taking into consideration whole pictures — case by case.”
During the Monday bill signing ceremony, Gov. Ron DeSantis allowed January Littlejohn to speak. She and her husband Jeffrey Littlejohn filed a federal lawsuit last year against the School Board of Leon County alleging Deer Lake Middle School helped their daughter to transition to a different gender without their knowledge.
“We learned the middle school had created a transgender, gender-nonconforming support plan with our 13-year-old daughter without our knowledge or consent,” January Littlejohn said.
The new law also requires school districts to give parents the option to decline health services and to notify parents about students’ health changes. Court costs and damages threaten to affect the school districts’ budgets.
The law goes into effect July 1st.