"Don't Say Gay" Bill

 Many conservative states are beginning to ban books that have themes relating to race, gender, and sexuality. One of the most high profile cases right now is in the state of Florida, since they introduced and passed the "Don't Say Gay" bill back in February. Originally named the Parental Rights in Education bill, this piece of legislation "prohibits classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in the state's primary schools" (Lavietes 2022). Legislators claim that the bill is meant to empower parents and protect children from what is deemed as "inappropriate" in schools. Although the bill does not explicitly prevent teachers and students from discussing LGBTQ history in classrooms, it uses vague enough language that could allow parents and families to sue the school district for any discussion of queer history and queer identities. According to House Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith, "This bill goes way beyond the text on its page. It sends a terrible message to our youth that there is something so wrong, so inappropriate, so dangerous about this topic that we have to censor it from classroom instruction" (Lavietes 2022). This bill is extremely dangerous, because not only can queer students internalize the homophobia that will come from this legislation, but other students will be more likely to bully and torment queer students since they are being taught that queerness is "wrong." Other states have similar policies put in place, as well as State Senators who urge police to investigate school districts for having "pornographic," or, queer material in the classrooms. Many are worried that this will inspire a series of "copy cat" legislation, and that more states will be eliminating queer content from their curriculum. Consequently, there have been many protests against these bills, in hopes to make change and protect queer children in schools. While most may think this is only happening in Southern, Conservative states, there are some Northeastern states that are eliminating queer books as well.

Works Cited

“Florida House Passes 'Don't Say Gay' Bill.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 24 Feb. 2022, https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/florida-house-passes-dont-say-gay-bill-rcna17532.