The Democrats Are Caught Lying About Florida's "Parental Rights in Education" Law
"A law that banned using the word gay in public schools would undoubtedly violate the First Amendment. However, the Parental Rights in Education law does not remotely come close to doing this."
At the end of March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill into law. The left intentionally mischaracterized the law as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.” Falsely asserting that the law bans individuals in Florida public schools from using the word gay. Per our usual arrangement, the left and the media have joined forces to overtly lie about the law in an effort to shift public opinion.
A law that banned using the word gay in public schools would undoubtedly violate the First Amendment. However, the Parental Rights in Education law does not remotely come close to doing this. The law bans Florida schools from indoctrinating young children in radical gender ideology. Teachers are barred from teaching students about sexual orientation or gender ideology from kindergarten through third grade. Additionally, schools are barred from teaching these topics “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards” in grades four through twelve.
Furthermore, the law requires parents to be notified when there are substantial changes to a child’s “mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being.” This provision of the law is intended to prevent schools and teachers from encouraging young impressionable children to change genders without the parents’ knowledge or consent.
In other words, anyone in a public school can use the word gay. Students can even discuss radical gender ideology. Only the school is barred from teaching kindergarteners through third graders about gender ideology.
Children who do not follow established gender norms – such as a boy who plays with dolls - should not be pressured by teachers and the school system into believing they are gay. That individual child may simply enjoy playing with dolls. Similarly, a child should not be pressured by teachers to change their gender simply because they are uncomfortable with their body. This feeling is a part of puberty and is extraordinarily common for children and teens. Yet, teachers have taken it upon themselves to convince young children that they are gay or should use hormone blockers and surgery to change genders. All of this occurs while children cannot fully understand what those terms mean or understand the lifelong irreversible damage a gender transition could bring. Teachers and school administrators pressuring students into believing they are gay or transgender has become an increasingly pervasive problem throughout the United States. The Florida law prevents the state, namely the public school system, from indoctrinating all children in this radical gender ideology. The law is entirely unobjectionable and should not be controversial.
Parents send their children to school to learn reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history. Parents do not send their children to school to learn the political theories and worldview of the left. If a parent wants to inculcate their child in certain political or moral values, they can do so at home, without the school system’s involvement. Teachers have no reason to be discussing gender ideology issues with students. Instead, they should defer to the parents so that the parents can conduct those conversations at home.
Despite the left’s allegations, the law does not prevent parents from teaching their own children radical gender ideology. At home, any parent is free to teach their child as much or as little about same-sex and transgender ideologies as they desire.
The Democrats, however, believe that parents should not have a say in the values taught to their children. This is all part in parcel of the Democrat’s attempt to turn public schools into indoctrination centers for young children. Ultimately, the Democrats hope to produce more left voting young people when those students turn eighteen. The left is targeting the most impressionable members of society to convert the students into their radical ideology, particularly surrounding gender and race.
Florida’s law is popular with the overwhelming majority of United States voters. A March 2022 Public Opinion Strategies poll found that 61% of U.S. voters agree with Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law. More specifically, “70% of registered Republicans, 58% of independents and 55% of Democrats” agreed with the law’s key provision. Similarly, a March 2022 Daily Wire poll found that 64% of Americans support the Florida law – “69% of Republicans, 62% of Democrats, and 57% of Independents.” Congressional Democrats recognize that they are on the wrong side of this issue. This has prompted them to promulgate falsehoods about the law’s content, such as that the law bans people from saying the word “gay” in Florida public schools.
The left’s push against the law is indicative of their broader authoritarian view of the role government should play in our lives. The left believes that the government should mandate any idea or speech they agree with. Simultaneously, Democrats argue that the government should ban any idea or speech they disagree with. This viewpoint has led us to the current state of the public discourse, where Democrats oppose a law restoring parents with their right to decide what their child learns about gender ideology in kindergarten through third grade. The left would rather mandate that all children in K-3 be indoctrinated in leftist values than allow parents to determine the values their children should be taught.
Garrett Gillespie graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Central Florida with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.
The Gillespie Report is a weekly news and conservative commentary column written by Garrett Gillespie. Subscribe to receive the newest edition each week for free.