House Republicans want to take national Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push to keep the groomers from targeting Florida’s youngest schoolchildren.
According to the website Florida Daily, more than 30 GOP lawmakers, including three from Florida, are backing the proposed “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act.”
The bill, introduced by Louisiana Republican Rep. Mike Johnson, prohibits federal, state, local governments, and private organizations from utilizing federal funding to expose children under 10 to “sexually explicit material.”
Florida GOP Reps. Scott Franklin of Lakeland, Greg Steube of Sarasota, and Daniel Webster of Clermont are among the co-sponsors.
“It is the role of parents, not schools or taxpayer-funded organizations to decide when their children are ready to be introduced to these topics,” Webster told Florida Daily in explaining why signed on to the measure.
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“This commonsense legislation will empower parents and ensure that taxpayer dollars are not funding programs that deliberately expose children under 10 years of age to sexually explicit material.”
Johnson’s bill mirrors much of Florida’s new Parental Rights in Education law, which bans school districts and classroom teachers from implementing lesson plans rooted in sexual orientation or gender ideology.
Florida Daily reported that Johnson’s office referred to Planned Parenthood in making the case for the bill, noting the abortion provider has urged state legislatures and school boards around the country “to implement sexual education curricula that teach radical gender theory to children under 10.“
The congressman’s office also pointed out that the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services has used taxpayer funding to sponsor drag shows.
Johnson’s Stop the Sexualization of Children Act would prohibit that or any other use of federal money “to develop, implement, facilitate, or fund any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10.”
Taxpayers’ resources also would not be used “to host or promote events where adults dance salaciously or strip for children.”
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Johnson’s bill also would allow parents to sue any public or private entity that “uses federal dollars to expose their young children to sexually explicit materials or programs.”
Any agency or group that does so more than once in a five-year period would forfeit federal funding for three years.
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