Florida approves the “Don’t say gay” law, which prohibits treating sexual identity in classrooms until third grade

The Governor of Florida (United States), Republican Ron DeSantis, has approved the controversial law that has been popularly baptized as “Don’t Say Gay” (“Do not say gay”), that prohibits talking in schools about sexuality and sexual identity until the third grade.

One day after being mocked at the Oscar Awards ceremony for the law now enacted, DeSantis stressed at a press conference after putting his signature on the regulations that he doesn’t “care” what Hollywood, the media, or corporations say.

The law officially called “Parental Rights in Education” prevents teachers from addressing gender identity and sexual orientation in classes with students of kindergarten and first and second grades, who are aged up to 7 or 8 years. From the third grade of primary education, both issues can be addressed in an “age-appropriate” way.

Under the law enacted today, parents will be able to file lawsuits against the school district and receive damages if they violate this provision.

On Twitter, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, affirmed this Monday that the current Administration «will continue to fight for the dignity and opportunity of every student and familyin Florida and across the country.”

“All students deserve to feel safe and welcome in the classroom. Our LGBTQI+ youth deserve to be affirmed and accepted as they are“, Biden has pointed out.

Disney charges against the law

The governor, who seeks to be re-elected for four more years in the elections next November and is seen as a possible candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential electionshas affirmed for his part that he will remain firm in defending the right of parents to decide what they want for their children in educational matters.

“This law comes to correct something that is happening in the US and that is that parents are ignored in school decisions that have to do with sexual education and gender identity,” explained DeSantis, who has signed the regulation in a school in Spring Hill, in West Florida, without prior announcement.

“It is inappropriate for preschoolers and first and second graders. Parents do not want this to happen in our schools«, added the governor, who in the middle of the electoral campaign also has on the table to sign a law restrictive of the right to abortion and other ultraconservative norms.

Among the first reactions after the signing of the law is that of the Disney company, which is the company that has the most employees in Florida and a major donor to conservative politicians like DeSantis.

«It should never have been approved or made into law“, Disney said in a statement in which declares itself “dedicated” to supporting the rights and safety of its LGBTQ+ employees and to the efforts of organizations that at the state and national level are fighting to get this law stopped in the legislature or in the courts.

Pressured by its LGTBQ+ employees, Disney, who had kept his silence until then, was forced to criticize the controversial law when it was approved in early March by the Florida Congress. That cost him a controversy with DeSantis, who attacked the entertainment company and theme parks for their business with China.

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