Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP lawmakers may have launched a political epidemic.
More than a dozen states in the South and Midwest are eyeing legislation to copycat Florida’s new Parental Rights in Education law.
The law, effective July 1, bans school districts and classroom teachers from implementing lesson plans centered on sexual orientation and gender identification in grades K-3.
According to an NPR report from Sunday, “The specific details regarding the bills vary between states. But overall, they seek to prohibit schools from using a curriculum or discussing topics of gender identity or sexual orientation.”
NPR reported that the other states include Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
The variations that NPR discussed in requiring parents to “opt-in” for such classroom instruction (Iowa) as well as bills that ban lessons on what is referred to as “gender or sexual diversity” (Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri).
Oklahoma proposes to ban “the study of sex, sexual lifestyles, or sexual activity.” Tennessee, meanwhile, looks to outlaw books and instructional materials “that promote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, or transgender issues or lifestyle.”
True to form, NPR dismissed arguments in favor of not subjecting young children to such mature and sensitive subjects.
The outlet quoted a Florida teacher who questions the state’s law as well as LGBTQ activists who oppose such measures, including one who noted that such “no promo homo” laws are not new.
No one who supports the bill was quoted as to why DeSantis and Republican lawmakers wanted to outlaw talk of sex in grades K-3 – all kinds of sex.
The only reference was a previous quote by the Republican governor, who said he wanted children to “get an education, not an indoctrination.”
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