Students and teachers can discuss sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms, as long as they are not part of instruction, under an agreement reached Monday between Florida education officials and civil rights lawyers who had challenged a state law that critics have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.” “
The agreement clarifies what is allowed in Florida classrooms following the passage two years ago of a law banning teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades. Opponents said the law created confusion over whether teachers can identify as LGBTQ+ or whether they can even have rainbow stickers in classrooms.
Other states have used Florida’s law as a model to pass bans on classroom teaching about gender identity or sexual orientation. Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and North Carolina are among the states with versions of the law.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Florida Board of Education will send instructions to each school district stating that Florida law does not prohibit discussion of LGBTQ+ people, nor does it prevent anti-bullying policies on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity , nor does it prohibit gay discrimination. Straight Alliance groups. The agreement also specifies that the law is neutral – meaning what applies to LGBTQ+ people also applies to heterosexual people – and that it does not apply to library books that are not used for classroom teaching.
The law also does not apply to books with incidental references to LGBTQ+ characters or same-sex couples, “since they do not constitute instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity any more than a math problem that asks students to add bushels of apples is an education about the apple. agriculture”, according to the agreement.
“What this agreement does is re-establish the fundamental principle, which I hope all Americans agree with, which is that every child in this country has the right to an education in a public school where they feel safe, their dignity is respected and where their families and their parents are welcomed,” Roberta Kaplan, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, said in an interview. “This shouldn’t be a controversial thing.”
In a statement, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office described the agreement as a “major victory” because the law formally known as the Parental Rights in Education Act remains intact.
“We fought hard to ensure that this law could not be vilified in court, as it has been in the public arena by the media and large corporations,” said Ryan Newman, a Florida state attorney. “We won, and Florida classrooms will remain a safe place under the Parental Rights in Education Act.”
The law has been supported by the Republican governor since before its passage in 2022 by the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature. It banned instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade, and was expanded to all grades last year.
Republican lawmakers had argued that parents should address these topics with children and that the law protected children from being taught inappropriate material.
But opponents of the law argue that it has created a chilling effect in classrooms. Some teachers said they were unsure if they could mention or show a photo of their same-sex partner in class. In some cases, books dealing with LGBTQ+ topics were removed from classrooms and lyrics mentioning sexual orientation were removed from school musicals. The Miami-Dade County School Board decided not to adopt a resolution recognizing LGBTQ History Month in 2022, even though it had done so a year earlier.
The law also triggered ongoing legal battles between DeSantis and Disney over control of Walt Disney World’s government district in Central Florida after DeSantis took control of the government in what the company described as retaliation for his opposition to legislation. DeSantis touted the fight with Disney during his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, which ended earlier this year.
Civil rights lawyers sued Florida education officials on behalf of teachers, students and parents, arguing that the law was unconstitutional, but the case was dismissed last year by a federal judge in Tallahassee who claimed that they did not have standing to sue. The case was appealed to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Kaplan said he believed the appeals court would overturn the lower court’s decision, but that continuing the lawsuit would delay any resolution for several more years.
“The last thing we wanted for children in Florida was further delay,” Kaplan said.