ABOVE: State Rep. Adam Anderson. Photo via Anderson’s Facebook.
TALLAHASSEE | Republican State Rep. Adam Anderson filed House Bill 1223 Feb. 28, legislation LGBTQ advocates warn would expand the state’s “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law.
According to Equality Florida, the bill “doubles down on a vague and discriminatory law whose negative consequences have already been felt in schools across Florida.” It would further limit discussions of LGBTQ identity in classrooms through 8th grade and impact pronoun usage in as far as 12th grade.
“Don’t Say LGBTQ policies have already resulted in sweeping censorship, book banning, rainbow Safe Space stickers being peeled from classroom windows, districts refusing to recognize LGBTQ History Month and LGBTQ families preparing to leave the state altogether,” Equality Florida Public Policy Director Jon Harris Maurer said in a statement.
“This legislation is about a fake moral panic, cooked up by Governor DeSantis to demonize LGBTQ people for his own political career,” he continued. “Governor DeSantis and the lawmakers following him are hellbent on policing language, curriculum and culture. Free states don’t ban books or people.”
Equality Florida explains further:
The legislation expands the Don’t Say LGBTQ law’s dangerous empowerment of a small cadre of anti-LGBTQ activists to sue a school district to enforce a complete ban on classroom instruction regarding “sexual orientation or gender identity” from pre-kindergarten through eighth grades. Banning school districts from acknowledging the existence of LGBTQ people in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade is detrimental to LGBTQ students and students with LGBTQ parents. Additionally, the law would forbid use of pronouns that align with transgender students’ gender identity up through twelfth grade, depriving parents of the right to ensure that their children are protected and respected in their identity. The legislation’s censorship also extends to charter schools and private pre-kindergarten.
LGBTQ advocates previewed the 2023 legislative session to Watermark earlier this month, warning equality-focused Floridians should expect anti-LGBTQ legislation this year. The session begins March 7 and ends May 5 with a Republican supermajority of 28-12 in the state Senate and 85-35 majority in the state House.
“The Don’t Say LGBTQ policies are part of a coordinated campaign by the DeSantis Administration,” Equality Florida says. “They are the epitome of the administration’s effort to wage culture wars against academic freedom, parental rights, and diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of a broader strategy to challenge the Governor’s former mentor Donald Trump for a presidential nomination.”
For more information about Equality Florida and its work to oppose such measures, visit EQFL.org.
