03-12-2024, 02:19 AM
Students will be able to speak freely about LGBTQ+ issues in classrooms, provided it’s not part of instruction
https://wapo.st/3VdzFSc
A lawsuit settlement over Florida’s “don’t say gay” statute announced Monday affirms that teachers and students can discuss LGBTQ+ issues and have access to related library books, largely canceling many of the impacts of the signature legislation from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The settlement was immediately praised by rights groups who said it marked a major victory for LGBTQ+ students, teachers and families who were effectively barred from speaking about their own personal lives or loved ones in same-sex relationships.
“Florida has already endured nearly two years of book banning, educators leaving the profession, and safe space stickers being ripped off of classroom windows in the wake of this law cynically targeting the LGBTQ+ community,” Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith said in a statement. “This settlement is a giant step toward repairing the immense damage these laws and the dangerous political rhetoric has inflicted on our families, our schools, and our state.”
Under the terms of the settlement, the law itself remains in place but the state must clarify that it “restricts only classroom instruction on particular subjects — ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity,” but does not restrict “the mere discussion of them.” The law also cannot be applied to library books, a number of which had been banned.
The state Board of Education is now required to send instructions detailing the settlement requirements to all of Florida’s 67 school districts. Parents and LGBTQ+ groups sued over the Parental Rights in Education Law in April 2022.
The DeSantis administration described the settlement as “a major win,” because prohibiting instruction on sexual ideology in public school classrooms remains in place. But critics have long asserted that little on the subject was actually taught in school and that the most consequential effects of the law were how much fear it caused over any mention of LGBTQ+ people in classrooms.
https://wapo.st/3VdzFSc
A lawsuit settlement over Florida’s “don’t say gay” statute announced Monday affirms that teachers and students can discuss LGBTQ+ issues and have access to related library books, largely canceling many of the impacts of the signature legislation from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The settlement was immediately praised by rights groups who said it marked a major victory for LGBTQ+ students, teachers and families who were effectively barred from speaking about their own personal lives or loved ones in same-sex relationships.
“Florida has already endured nearly two years of book banning, educators leaving the profession, and safe space stickers being ripped off of classroom windows in the wake of this law cynically targeting the LGBTQ+ community,” Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith said in a statement. “This settlement is a giant step toward repairing the immense damage these laws and the dangerous political rhetoric has inflicted on our families, our schools, and our state.”
Under the terms of the settlement, the law itself remains in place but the state must clarify that it “restricts only classroom instruction on particular subjects — ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity,” but does not restrict “the mere discussion of them.” The law also cannot be applied to library books, a number of which had been banned.
The state Board of Education is now required to send instructions detailing the settlement requirements to all of Florida’s 67 school districts. Parents and LGBTQ+ groups sued over the Parental Rights in Education Law in April 2022.
The DeSantis administration described the settlement as “a major win,” because prohibiting instruction on sexual ideology in public school classrooms remains in place. But critics have long asserted that little on the subject was actually taught in school and that the most consequential effects of the law were how much fear it caused over any mention of LGBTQ+ people in classrooms.
