Florida. Florida. Florida. What is it about this state? You’d think a state that has one of “the happiest places on earth” wouldn’t be so good at causing such strife. In fact, all I had to do was post this vague post on my Facebook wall to initiate one of the most heated discussions I’ve seen on my feed for a while.
Photocredit : iStockPhoto.com
I feel like at any given year, a person will come across this post and have any number of provocative issues to discuss (COVID treatment, CRT education, white supremacist rallies, etc.)
As of this particular writing, in this particular year, the latest and greatest is Florida’s now infamous “The Parental Rights in Education” bill—or as it has become to affectionately be known as (or not-so-affectionately, depending on who you ask), the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
I read the bill
Before the “haters” get started, yes, I read the 7-page bill (it’s actually more like 6.5 pages). And if I’m being honest, most of the bill is reasonable, and as a loving parent who once had a kindergartner, I would co-sign a lot of what’s in here.
But, as they say, “The devil’s in the details.” History is rife with examples of heinous sh*t being done to people over one tiny line in a 2,000 page law, or contract. The famous story of Van Halen’s “removal of brown M&Ms rider” is another example of how details matter.
And it’s the details in this bill that are causing the uproar you’re seeing by those of us who are allies of the LGBTQ+ community.
The two biggest issues this bill raises relate to what constitutes “instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity”, and whether or not children who identify as trans can get any kind of mental health treatment or care at school as it relates to their transgenderism.
But, there’s actually a third, and IMHO, bigger issue. But we’ll get to that.
What is “instruction”?
The biggest issue that most people seem to have is the bill doesn’t define what “instruction” or “age appropriate” mean. Here’s the problematic paragraph:
What exactly does “Classroom instruction” mean in this paragraph. And what are the “State Standards” to which the end of this paragraph refer?
For example, if a teacher uses an illustrated example of two same-sex parents taking their kid to the zoo, does that count as “instruction”? What if in a lesson about photography the teacher happens to show two men at a gay wedding?
Photo by Maico Pereira on Unsplash
Do you mean to tell me the parents backing this bill won’t jump all over these teachers? (Like teachers don’t have enough issues without worrying about parents attacking them if they deem the teacher is breaking the law.)
Supporters of the bill will argue that it’s hyperbolic to suggest a teacher will face negative repercussions for such an innocent illustration. Really? What world are you living in? Why don’t you ask Matthew Hawn, the Sullivan Central High School teacher in TN, or Colleyville Heritage High School principal James Whitfield of Fort Worth, TX, about their experiences in conservative school districts where they taught and/or alluded to the racist history of America.
Hawn was fired because his teaching was against a new TN law prohibiting the instruction of concepts related to Critical Race Theory. Like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” most of the Tennessee law sounds reasonable. But in its list of instruction you can NOT teach, there are these two which are problematically vague.
First, you essentially cannot teach the existence of “white” or even “male” privilege:
Second, any kind of instruction that makes a student feel guilty because of their race or sex (as if the feeling of a student is something you can control):
Hawn was fired the day the bill was put into law. (Damn! The ink was barely dry before they fired his ass!)
If those two stories aren’t enough for you, NBC did an entire podcast series about how the town of Southlake, TX “blew up” in a firestorm of controversy over a movement in the town to address overt examples of racism in the high school . Local educators and politicians supporting the instruction of racial conciliatory education lost their jobs.
https://www.nbcnews.com/southlake-podcast
This bill even allows for parents to bring a case against a teacher or the school district if such parents believe a teacher violated the law. Here’s the specific paragraph:
And parents can get paid if they win such cases:
The moral of the story: you can rest assured that any kind of instruction that has a whiff of acknowledging the existence of homosexuality or transgenderism, will be an excuse to put this law into action. Because at the end of the day, we know the real deal—laws like this (and the reason they’re so vociferously supported by Trump-like politicians like Ron DeSantis) is because there’s a huge anti-LGBTQ+ movement among right-wing conservatives and evangelicals. End of story.
Problem #2: caring for trans youth
Another part of the bill prohibits a school from administering any kind of health care not approved by a parent:
Once again, on its surface, this is a totally reasonable paragraph. And as a parent, I don’t know that I would necessarily be against such a provision. And if this were in any other bill, it probably wouldn’t raise an eyebrow.
But, it’s in this bill—one that specifically forbids the teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity. Which means, if a trans student is dealing with any kind of emotional trauma as it relates to their transgenderism, a school counselor or psychologist would not be able to acknowledge or recognize that student’s transgenderism if the parent forbade them. Even if acknowledging that transgenderism would be emotionally and mentally healthy for the child. Doing so could risk their job. (Come to think of it, if a gay child dealt with this, a teacher or school medical official could get into trouble if they affirmed that child’s sexual orientation).
And that leads me to the third, and in my opinion, worst and most problematic part of this bill.
Acknowledging the humanity of the LGBTQ+ community
The mere fact that you cannot even teach about sexual orientation or gender identity betrays the real heart of the people behind this bill. Truth is, there are a lot of people who do not “believe” in homosexuality or transgenderism, and therefore do not want it “taught.” What do they think a teacher is going to do: show gay porn or put up posters of homosexual sex? Geeze!
Teaching about the existence of homosexual relationships in age-appropriate ways is NO DIFFERENT than teaching about heterosexual relationships in age-appropriate ways. Kids have been asking the question “Where do babies come from?” since the dawn of time. The hard-working teachers of America have been able to “teach” that to young children without there needing to be a law. There’s no reason they cannot do it in the context of recognizing same sex relationships. Here’s how you could do it.
Let’s say little Becky asks the teacher, “Mrs. Crabtree, why does Susie have two mommies?” In such a scenario, Mrs. Crabtree could respond:
“You know how you have a mommy and a daddy who love each other? Well, Susie has two mommies who love each other the same way. And remember when your nosy ass was asking why Johnny has two daddies? Well, two daddies can love each other the same way your mommy and daddy do. The most important thing is that the love each other, and they love Susie very, very much. Just like your mommy and daddy love you. ”
(Okay. Maybe she shouldn’t say the “Nosy ass” part. But the rest of it is totally appropriate.)
The problem with the “don’t say gay” bill is that it doesn’t allow a teacher to treat LGBTQ+ youth as human beings. Human beings deserve to be acknowledged and recognized FOR WHO THEY ARE. You can’t do that if you have LGBTQ+ kids in your class, and there’s a f-ing law that literally says a teacher can’t explain to a kid why Susie has two mommies.
Different gender identities and sexual orientations are FACTS. And this is just another example of facts that conservatives in Florida don’t want taught. (Kinda like them not wanting schools to teach the full FACTS of slavery and the effects of institutionalized racism).
Different forms of gender identity and sexual orientation exist. Periodt. (That “t” is not a typo. Some of y’all know the deal.) Burying our heads in the sand, or plugging our ears and saying “la la la la la la, I can’t hear you” about these issues doesn’t help anyone. In fact, it’s just the opposite. It actively hurts.
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Unless Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suddenly grows a heart, or is able to buy back his soul from Beelzebub, this bill is going to pass. Who knows, maybe this is all just hype, absolutely nothing will come of it, and no compassionate teachers in Florida who dare to acknowledge the existence same sex relationships in their classroom will suffer consequences. (And if you believe that, I have a digital NFT of a picture of a bridge in New York I’d like to sell you. It’s only 2.5 bitcoin).
If you would like to buy this bridge, click here. Photo by kyler trautner on Unsplash
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If you would like to help support the fight against laws like the ones mentioned in this post, donate to the Human Right Campaign. (Note: I was not asked nor paid by them to write this.)
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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