Why did they make the "Don`t say gay" law in Florida?

I don’t live in America, and I’m curious what kind of law that is too. I’m waiting for Florida jellies to shed some lights into this.

But just wondering, could this be just a mishearing/misunderstanding on your part?

I don`t think it was i misunderstanding, I saw people talking about it on the news but they didn’t shed to much light on it.

@vimead1 What exactly did you hear?

Because they’re paranoid that teachers and school administration (for example counselors) are preaching and indoctrinating and brain washing little kids about gayness.

This way, they can’t talk about the word “gay” or anything relating to gayness, gender issues, anything like that. The sad thing is, if a little child asks a question because maybe they’re having some confusion, and the teacher can’t answer, maybe the little child will feel like they’re different or weird and nobody at school can address it.

I only really heard the name, and the fact that it`s in Florida and how people weren’t that pleased about it.

@jca2 I also don`t really understand why people have such a problem with being gay or lgbtqa+ in general. Why do people think its a bad thing to love the same gender?

It will also be very problematic for young children of same-sex parents. It means that teachers, counselors, etc, will be prevented from addressing bullying because of that (same sex parents) with any logic or reason. It doesn’t only aim to stop specific teaching, but any and all general discussion.

The real reason? Or the reason the politicians gave?

@vimead1 Just did a quick search, and looks like it’s a very unpopular law.

I think @jca2 has the answer. It’s not about hating gays but more about them afraid of schools pushing misinformation and their own agenda related to gayness onto children. At least it’s the logic of the supporters

But yeah, I agree that this is a stupid move. There is more loss than gain from this.

The law is part of the right wing’s agenda !

Secondly – - DeSantis is hoping to run for President, will make it a talking point while running to show the conservatives he is on the “Right” side

Not to be hyperbolic, but it is a prelude to genocide.
Just like the new Texas law criminalising parents supportive of trans-kids as “child abusers”, they are attempting to legislate LGBTQ people out of existence, prepping the legislative scene to hopefully actually murdering them in the future.

Well I know one thing for sure, as long as i`m still gay i`m not going to Florida.

They made the law to get enthusiasm from their right wing extremists in the party and to rile up Democrats and cause more division. The Democrats gave it the name Don’t Say Gay, not the people who created the bill. The Democrats, or more left media, or whoever came up with the don’t say gay slogan just walked right into the Republicans strategy to start another fight.

Not that I don’t think the new legislations is horrible, it is horrible. It was right to bring attention to it and try to stop it and at minimum try to narrow the language. You might have seen the video of Florida state senator Shevrin Jones asking for them to please amend the language. He is a gay senator in Florida. Here is a link https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2022/03/08/dont-say-gay-bill-shevrin-jones-orig-mss.cnn/video/playlists/top-news-videos/

K-3 no one is teaching about same sex relationships. That’s why this is total bullshit, but now it will make teachers nervous to even be there as someone a child can go to if they have questions or need help. It’s outrageous, and really never was an issue, the Republicans created the issue.

Florida has a large gay population, it is crazy talk. Where we have gay people they are usually present in dense numbers. Ft. Lauderdale and South Beach might as well be San Francisco. Where I live in a very red area, even here we have a gay presence. Republicans who are not hateful need to get a clue at how harmful these laws and measures are. Especially, when it is an unnecessary law, people should be suspicious of the politics or future plans.

Because they’re unChristian, sanctimonious idiots.

Another stepe in the Talibanization of the republican party. Religion above state!

What I had read about this said that the teachers aren’t allowed to listen to a child in the 3rd grade or under to discuss their feelings on the subject. They are required to immediately contact the parent with their concern for the child. IF they don’t contact the parent, the teacher can be sued for encouraging the child to be gay. The right wing is claiming to give parents their right to raise their own child back to the parent. I’m of the opinion that a large majority of parents have NO clue how to guide their child!!! They think that saying “you can’t do it because I said you can’t” is the answer. I think you should tell them WHY you think it is wrong!!!

When I was growing up, we didn’t have sex ed in school & my TOTAL sex talk came from my dad who informed me that “IF I had sex with anybody that I wasn’t married to that I was condemned to hell.” At that time, I didn’t know WTF he was talking about & I had NO interest in having sex!!! By the time I lost my virginity, I thought I was in love & it would last FOREVER & I did NOT care IF I went to Hell!!!

I’m Bi & my Mother always told her friends that she didn’t have to worry about me being a lesbian because I didn’t like women well enough to want to have a relationship with one. IF parents would spend as much time learning about their child as they do bullying their child, you wouldn’t need teachers needing to have “the conversation” with a student because the child would feel comfortable talking with a parent!!!

The object of this bill is to SHUT DOWN any & ALL narrative that gives a child a reason to feel they are normal with what they are feeling!!! Burn any books that deal wit the subject, put anyone who dares to speak about it in jail & the child will change their behavior. What they are overlooking is that the child is who they are & that is what is NORMAL to them so they are bound to FAIL & murder a few innocent children in the process!!!

@LadyMarissa the politicians don’t care about the kids, or the parents in any meaningful way. Not one iota.

The politicians care about (a) fund raising, (b) being reelected, and© power – not necessarily in that order.

As such, the issue at hand is just a tool, a mechanism, a prop – to achieve those ends.

On a side note, but sort of related to this idea of informing the parents; in Florida about 20 years ago there was a vote about requiring parents to be informed if a minor girl wanted to get an abortion. I don’t remember the wording exactly. I don’t remember if it passed. I can’t tell you how many Democrats I knew who wanted a law to know if their daughter was pregnant or wanted to require parental consent for an abortion. I was shocked.

I’d want to know @JLeslie. That’s a hell of a decision for a 13 or 14 or 15 year old to make all alone.

@elbanditoroso I agree with you. I was just answering the OP’s Q about the thought process & what reasons they are claiming. @vimead1 & the rest of Fluther are smart enough to smell bull shit when it flows under their collective noses!!!

The stupid thing is that the president himself hates this law and yet it still exists. How does this law still exist even, couldn’t the president just remove the law? Or would he need extra consent from the house of representatives first?

No. It’s a state law. That’s one of the foundations of our Constitution. States can make their own laws as long they don’t violate Federal laws. It’s what protects us from becoming an oligarchy, like Russia.

But isn’t freedom of speech a country wide law, Or have things changed?
This new Floridian law is violating said freedom of speech.

@Dutchess_III What if your daughter is afraid to tell you? Then what? She needs to get an illegal (dangerous) abortion or try crazy things to end the pregnancy to avoid you finding out.

The main point of abortion laws is to provide safe abortions.

You are thinking like the Republicans who don’t hate gay people, and even would be fine if their child was gay. They are worried about their gay child feeling insecure, confused, isolated, or depressed. Those parents want to know their child is feeling that way so they can help their child. They like the idea that a teacher would have to inform the parents.

Freedom of Speech means you have the right to criticize the government @vimead1. I think the law is despicable and stupid, but I guess they have the right to implement it.
(Your writing has improved dramatically in the last hour! Congratulations! :D )

It’s performative virtue signaling. The law basically says you can’t teach it in K-3rd grade. Which is stupid because at that age teachers don’t generally teach it.

So it’s all about the performance and politics and has nothing to do with education.

^^ @Caravanfan is correct, it’s a ploy to get votes & cash from the right wing hypocrites

@vimead1: While you’re at work, you don’t have freedom of speech, and this law covers people while they’re at work.

You shouldn’t be teaching any type of sex education in k-5 public schools. So not their place. That’s one of a million reasons we enrolled our kid into private school. The education is far better and they allow parents to be parents.

As @Caravanfan said @Chestnut, we don’t teach sex education at the elementary level, either in public schools or private schools. It’s much ado about nothing.

This is also about talking about Gay Rights and famous Gay people. Is verbotin.

I gave an example above (gleaned from the news this morning) about how it could have a real world effect that doesn’t include curriculum. It may be performative, but it could also be damaging.

Sex education began in the 5th grade for me, so I don’t think we can make a blanket statement that sex education is not taught in K-5. But that’s neither here nor there as the bill targets K-3, a period in which sexuality is usually not discussed (and for good reason). This bill, much like the anti-trans “bathroom bills”, is addressing a made up issue (teaching about sexuality in 2nd grade, men pretending to be trans so they can rape women in women’s bathrooms) to make a broader “culture war” statement, that is, legislating homosexuality out of existence, and forcing teachers to out children to their parents (this part of the bill was withdrawn, but I’m by no means convinced we’ve heard the last of it). It’s the right attempting to further erode the public school system and bring about the world they want (one in which homosexuality is not mentioned or approved of and hopefully will disappear with time). These are the kinds of laws you see when “the other side” is in power. They see their country going in the wrong direction and feel powerless when their guy isn’t in power so they reassert it through legislation like this or the abortion bounty hunter bill, etc.

Sex Ed starts in kindergarten. It’s just not about actual sex at that age.

More about knowing body parts. And that you’re the boss of your own body.

Most European countries start Sex Ed in kindgarten. Why are (borrowing from loli here) colonials so backwards when it comes to sex?

@raum remember the Puritans in the USA !

@raum Because parents can teach sex, so no need for public school teachers to do so. I wanted to home school, wife wouldn’t let me, so we found this nice hybrid of private school and home school. Best move ever!

Parents can teach a lot of things, doesn’t mean they’re qualified to.

Thinking about what is taught at school, from maths and science, to art, music and languages, parents are not qualified to teach any of these things.
Maybe PE, but even that is questionable.

We started “sex ed” in 5th grade when I was in school in the ‘70’s. It was mostly about going through puberty, and the girls and boys were separated for some of it. We did see a movie of a dog having babies if I remember correctly.

Watching SNL Weekend Edition. Kate McKinnon started singing “Gay gay gay!” To the tune of Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple!

Here’s the specific wording from Florida HB 1557, aka “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. I haven’t read it as I’m on a webinar right now for Girl Scouts lol.

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557

Even MORE political correctness run amok.

The problem I’ve seen in my lifetime of parents teaching children about sex is that they feel UNCOMFORTABLE having that conversation & they skip over way too much pertinent info & the child stays confused!!! Most kids learn about sex from their friends who have NEVER had sex & they have NO clue of what they speak. With my step daughter, I always told her that I didn’t want her friends teaching her anything about life & IF they told her anything that didn’t make sense that she could ask me ANY questions so we could talk about it. I discovered that when she casually asked me an odd question that meant that one of her friends had been discussing it & passed some BS along & we’d talk about it. I was gobsmacked at some of the things going around school as fact & we did have some awkward discussions!!!

When I was in my 20’s the next door neighbor’s 16 y/o child came over crying because she was afraid she was pregnant & feared telling her parents. After getting her calmed down, I asked her why she thought she was pregnant. She explained that she & her boyfriend had been french kissing & now her period was 2 days late. Then she looked at me & asked “How long does it take to get pregnant after you french kiss with a guy?” She absolutely had NO clue how she would get pregnant. She ONLY knew that IF her period is late that she “might be” pregnant. Her mom bragged about how close they were & how dad was teaching her everything that she needs to know to not get pregnant. Reality was that she thought she could get pregnant by letting her guy put his tongue in her mouth. That is HOW a girl gets pregnant!!! Not understanding the HOW she gets pregnant leads to NOT knowing how to PROTECT herself!!! Arming your child with the knowledge of how babies are made, does more in preventing pregnancy than using the “need to know” (or maybe don’t need to know) mentality!!!

IF every parent actually had “the sex talk” with their child in place of telling them what the parent feels comfortable discussing, I’d agree that it’s the parent’s place to teach their own child about sex. Sadly, in many cases the child is learning from another child who wasn’t taught either…so I’m a firm believer in sex ed in schools where they get “actual facts”!!! What I don’t understand is WHY the parent who feels uncomfortable discussing sex with their child is so adamant that NO one else teach them about it as the child is going to learn something one way or the other!!! Not telling them does NOT mean that they aren’t going to try!!!

My mom taught me the Facts, Jack, when I was 5 because an incident with a neighbor kid prompted me to ask her where babies come from.

Oof, My parents gave me “the talk” a few years back, when I was 11. Needless to say I was scarred.

What were you scared of @vimead1?

My oldest opened up that door when she was 6, after her little sister was born. I matter of factly told her, just the way my mother matter of factly told me. She was utterly disgusted, LOL!

I read @jca2’s link. Looks like a bunch of nothing.

No it isn’t @JLeslie. It explicitly states ”…prohibits classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels.”

It’s a bull shit cop out and a lame ass distraction for people who can’t think. Keep the gay bashing going so people won’t pull their head out of their stupid ass and focus on real issues. Like common Goddamn sense gun control legislation, or decent medical care like every other first world nation on the planet already has. But if legislators do something useful it’ll stop the pay offs from the NRA and Big Pharma. End of Rant

You were left scarred @vimead1? What on Earth did they tell you? Or how did they tell you?

Well I was mostly caught off guard by it. I wasn’t really ready to learn that.

They should have told you when you were younger, before you had accumulated all kinds of weird contexts to fit it in to. When my mom told me, when I was 5, I thought that was just the weirdest thing ever and basically dismissed it as impossible.
It wasn’t until I was 12 and saw a stallion mount a mare that the light bulb went off. Oh! It gets hard!!