Florida proposes bill banning use of trans+ student’s preferred name and pronouns in school
Lawmakers in Florida have proposed a bill that would see using a trans+ student’s preferred name and pronouns effectively banned in schools.
Filed on 28 February, House Bill (HB) 1223 would expand the state’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ legislation – officially known as the Parental Rights in Education law – and seeks to define “sex” as “the binary division of individuals based upon reproductive function.” Public employees would be restricted from referring to their pupils with names and pronouns that do not correspond with what they were assigned at birth, which would force teachers to misgender trans and non-binary students. “It shall be the policy of every public K-12 educational institution that is provided or authorised by the constitution and laws of Florida, that a person’s sex is an immutable biological trait, and that it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s sex,” part of the legislation states.
It continues: “An employee, contractor, or student of a public K-12 educational institution may not be required, as a condition of employment or enrollment or participation in any program, to refer to another person using that person’s preferred personal title or pronouns if such personal title or pronouns do not correspond to that person’s sex.” READ MORE: Rep.
Carlos G. Smith says ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill is “a very personal attack” on LGBTQ+ people HB 1223 was proposed by Republican state representative Adam Anderson with support from Randy Fine, a fellow Republican representative. “Florida is not going to be in the stupid pick-your-own pronouns fantasy that the woke left wants to waste our time with,” Fine said, according to WESH.
