Florida Senate Passes Parental Rights in Education Bill Biden Education Secretary Calls ‘Hateful’

Susan Berry, PhD
Miguel Cardona and Ron DeSantis

The Florida State Senate passed its Parental Rights in Education bill, a measure that would ban classroom teaching on gender identity and sexual orientation in grades K-3.

The Senate approved the bill Tuesday by a vote of 22-17.

The legislation, which already passed in the state House last month, now heads to Governor Ron DeSantis (R), who is expected to sign it into law.

The bill (CS/CS/HB 1557) reads:

Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.

Biden Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona issued the following statement in response to the approval by the Florida Legislature of the Parental Rights in Education bill, referring to the measure as “hateful”:

Parents across the country are looking to national, state, and district leaders to support our nation’s students, help them recover from the pandemic, and provide them the academic and mental health supports they need. Instead, leaders in Florida are prioritizing hateful bills that hurt some of the students most in need. The Department of Education has made clear that all schools receiving federal funding must follow federal civil rights law, including Title IX’s protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We stand with our LGBTQ+ students in Florida and across the country, and urge Florida leaders to make sure all their students are protected and supported.

Cardona echoed President Joe Biden’s comment in February in which he also referred to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill as “hateful.”

“I want every member of the LGBTQI+ community — especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill — to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are,” Biden tweeted on February 8. “I have your back, and my Administration will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve.”

It remains unclear, however, why LGBTQ activists and their political and media allies are referring to a bill, one that sets parameters on what is age-appropriate sexual information for the youngest of school children to be exposed to outside their homes, as “hateful” or “anti-gay.”

As The Florida Capital Star reported Tuesday, DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw has pushed back on Twitter against LGBTQ activists who have dubbed the bill with a “Don’t Say Gay” label.

“The bill that liberals inaccurately call ‘Don’t Say Gay’ would be more accurately described as an Anti-Grooming Bill,” she posted Friday, and added, “If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming of 4-8 year old children.”

“Silence is complicity,” Pushaw asserted. “This is how it works, Democrats, and I didn’t make the rules.”

On Tuesday, Pushaw pressed again against the media bias, “pushing a fake DNC talking point in all their headlines”:

Kyle Lamb, also with DeSantis’ communications team, noted Tuesday Associated Press Zeke Miller’s continued reference to the bill as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

“AP Reporter won’t actually call it by the real name: Parental Rights in Education Bill,” Lamb tweeted.

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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Florida State Capitol” by DXR CC BY-SA 4.0.
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