On Tuesday, Florida Republicans passed a proposal to extend the divisive ‘Don’t Say Gay’ rule to include eighth-grade classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Before proceeding to the entire House, the bill still needs to pass another committee after being passed by a House subcommittee. Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who frequently criticizes what he refers to as old media, prioritized a bill that would make it simpler to sue journalists for defamation, and it was approved by a different House subcommittee.
The education proposal would also forbid requiring faculty, staff, or students to use pronouns that are inappropriate for the person’s gender.
The so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ rule, which forbids teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, brought Florida under heavy international criticism last year.
As part of his crusade against what he terms ‘woke ideology’ in education, DeSantis has been a passionate defender of the law. He has leaned heavily into this position as he gets ready to announce his anticipated presidential bid.
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Gender Identity, Defamation Bills Progress
The measure voted on Tuesday would extend the prohibition on discussing gender identity and sexual orientation in the classroom to include students in prekindergarten through eighth grade.
Also, the measure forbids personnel from using their own preferred pronouns and prohibits schools from requesting students’ preferred pronouns.
A legislative amendment that would have permitted teachers to use a student’s preferred pronoun provided a parent offered official consent was rejected by Republicans on the committee.
Democrats claimed that the defamation measure was an abuse of power since it would weaken the US Constitution’s rights for free speech and the media.
The following are some of the topics covered in this article. He argued that this does not preclude people from criticizing politicians and others, but rather that the media cannot intentionally harm someone by spreading inaccurate information.
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