Written by Emily Martinez
The Florida Senate Education Committee passed a bill on Tuesday, February 8, 2022. This bill is a Parental Rights in Education bill, but it's also known as the “Don't Say Gay” bill and has been very controversial, having the power to affect many people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. This bill will have to go through two more senators to become a law. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis supports this bill and believes that talking about gender and being part of the LGBTQ+ community is wrong.
The Trevor Project released a statement referring to the proposed bill. They believe this bill is an attempt to erase all LGBTQ+ education and even students who are part of the community. Sam Ames is the Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs at the Trevor Project. Sam Ames stated, "Banning speech about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms would not only be an infringement on civil rights, but it would also erase entire chapters of history, classic literature, and critical health information from textbooks, to say nothing of erasing students themselves."
If this bill is approved by Florida legislators it would be used starting July 1. All school district plans would be updated on June 30th of 2023.
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