Florida lawmakers restrict pronouns and tackle book objections in sweeping education bill
The expansions are set to widen a ban on school lessons about sexual identity and gender orientation and require schools to yank challenged books within five days of someone flagging it, a shift opponents equate to “book banning.” | Rick Bowmer/AP Photo By Andrew Atterbury 05/03/2023 02:24 PM EDT Link CopiedTALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republican senators in Florida gave final approval Wednesday to a sweeping education bill targeting how teachers and students can use their pronouns in schools, sending to Gov.
Ron DeSantis a proposal meant to strengthen state’s parental rights law panned by critics as “Don’t Say Gay.”The expansions to one of the most controversial bills of 2022, which lawmakers passed on a 27-12 party-line vote, are set to widen a ban on school lessons about sexual identity and gender orientation that GOP lawmakers argue should take place at home — not in the classroom.
The wide-ranging measure also requires schools to yank challenged books within five days of someone flagging it, a shift opponents equate to “book banning.”“We are depriving children of the ability to figure out who they are when we push an agenda, a sexualized agenda, down onto children,” state Sen.
Erin Grall (R-Fort Pierce), a supporter of the measure, said on the floor Wednesday.Florida’s proposed parental rights expansions, FL HB1069 (23R), are part of the push by state conservatives to uproot what they say is “indoctrination” in schools and is one of several bills taken up this session focusing on the LGBTQ community and transness in particular.
