‘This will kill kids’: Push for ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law in Florida schools

Deemed the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation by LGBTQ advocates, if the bill is passed they fear it will suppress any discussion or teaching of LGBTQ history, oppression or identity.

“This would erase LGBTQ+ history and culture from lesson plans and it sends a chilling message to LGBTQ+ young people and communities,” executive director of America’s LGBTQ youth advocacy group GLSEN, Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, told ABC News in a statement.

“These mandates are harmful and risk carelessly outing LGBTQ+ young people to families who do not affirm their children’s identities.”

Member of Central Florida LGBTQ advocacy group Zebra Coalition, Heather Wilkie, agreed.

She told the outlet that erasing LGBTQ presence from schools could imply to students that their gender identity or sexual orientation is something to be hidden or ashamed of.

Its implication draws on a long history of homophobic legislation that portrays queer identities as hyper sexualised or perverted.

“We have to create a learning environment where they feel safe and healthy, or it’s not an effective learning environment,” Ms Wilkie said.

“When you have laws like this, that directly attack our kids for who they are, it prevents them from learning. It prevents them from being able to be healthy.”

If passed, the two bills in the state legislature, HB 1557 and SB 1834, state that a school district “may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students”.

Part of a class of several similar state legislatures introduced in Montana, Arizona and Tennessee last year, the so-called Parental Rights in Education bill has been fast-tracked to a vote in the Florida House committee as part of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’ “parents’ rights” agenda.

Joe Harding, the Republican state representative who introduced the bill, declared it was “about defending the most awesome responsibility a person can have: being a parent”.

“That job can only be given to you above,” he said, adding he hopes it will “reinforce the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding upbringing and control of their children”.

In response, public policy director for Equality Florida, Jon Harris Maurer, said that “conversations about us aren’t something dangerous that should be banned”.

Chasten Buttigieg, activist and husband of US Secretary of Transportation and former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, denounced both Gov DeSantis and the state legislature.

“This will kill kids, @RonDeSantisFL. You are purposefully making your state a harder place for LGBTQ kids to survive in,” he wrote on Twitter.

“In a national survey (@TrevorProject), 42 per cent of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide last year. Now they can’t talk to their teachers?”

Moreover, 94 per cent of LGBTQ youth reported that recent politics negatively impacted their mental health, the same study by the Trevor Project found. When LGBTQ youth had access to spaces that affirmed their sexual orientation and gender identity, they also reported lower rates of attempted suicide.

A separate report by the non-profit – which focuses on suicide prevention in LGBTQ youth – found those who learned about LGBTQ issues or people in classrooms had a 23 per cent less chance of reporting a suicide attempt in the last 12 months.

“This bill will erase young LGBTQ students across Florida, forcing many back into the closet by policing their identity and silencing important discussions about the issues they face,” director of advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, Sam Ames, said in a statement last week.

“LGBTQ students deserve their history and experiences to be reflected in their education, just like their peers.”

Originally published as ‘This will kill kids’: Push for ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law in Florida schools