Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Monday that forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, a policy that has drawn intense national scrutiny from critics who argue it marginalizes LGBTQ people.
The highly controversial bill known as the “Parental Rights in Education” bill was signed by DeSantis at the private Classical Preparatory School in Spring Hill, north of Tampa, according to ABC affiliate 3wear-TV.
The legislation states: “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.” Parents would be able to sue districts over violations.
DeSantis and Republicans have repeatedly said the measure is reasonable and that parents, not teachers, should be broaching subjects of sexual orientation and gender identity with their children, according to the Associated Press.
“We will make sure that parents can send their kids to school to get an education, not an indoctrination,” DeSantis said to applause before he signed the legislation.
Public backlash began almost immediately after the bill was introduced, reports the Associated Press, with early criticism lobbed by Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of the U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and condemnation from LGBTQ advocacy groups. Democratic President Joe Biden called it “hateful.”
As the bill moved through the legislative process, celebrities mobilized against it on social media, including during Sunday night’s Academy Awards. Florida students staged school walkouts in protest of the bill, and packed into committee rooms and statehouse halls to protest the measure, often with loud chants of “We say gay!”
The Walt Disney Company is a very powerful player in Florida politics, and suspended political donations in the state.
On Monday, after DeSantis sighed the bill, Disney released a statement saying, “Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that.”
Andrew Spar, president of the Florida Education Association, said the law amounts to a political wedge issue for Republicans because elementary schools, especially in kindergarten through third grade, do not teach about these subjects and have state curriculum standards guiding classroom lessons.
“This bill is based on a falsehood, and that falsehood is that somehow we’re teaching kids inappropriate topics at an early age, and clearly we’re not,” Spar said.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona recently held a call with LGBTQ students in Florida and said in a statement issued Monday that his agency “will be monitoring this law upon implementation to evaluate whether it violates federal civil rights law.”
