DeSantis signs law restricting pronouns in schools: ‘We’re not doing the pronoun olympics.’

TAMPA, Fla. (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law Wednesday that will prohibit a school from requiring students and teachers to use preferred pronouns and adds guidelines for books that citizens wish to challenge in schools.

“We’re not doing the pronoun olympics in Florida. It’s not happening here,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis said the law, HB 1069, makes sure that Florida students and teachers will “never be forced to declare pronouns in school, or be forced to use pronouns not based on biological sex.”

“There’s a lot of nonsense that gets floated around and what we’ve said in Florida is, we are going to remain a refuge of sanity, and a citadel of normalcy, and kids should have an upbringing that reflects that,” DeSantis said.

Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville and Rep. Stan McClain, R-Ocala, sponsored the bill.

It will prohibit a school from requiring that an employee or student, as a condition of employment or enrollment or participation in any program, refer to another person by a pronoun that does not correspond to that person’s sex.

The legislation said an employee or contractor of a public K-12 educational institution may not provide their preferred pronouns to a student.

A student may not be asked by an employee or contractor of a public K-12 educational institution to provide his or her preferred personal title or pronouns or be penalized or subjected to adverse or discriminatory treatment for not providing his or her preferred personal title or pronouns.

DeSantis said it’s “inappropriate” to force them to try to choose pronouns.

The legislation continues Florida’s efforts to increase transparency of a school district’s instructional and specific materials adoption processes and empower parents control of their children’s education. 

The legislation increases school district transparency and accountability for selecting and using instructional materials and library materials by requiring that district school boards be responsible for the contents of classroom libraries, in addition to instructional materials and school libraries.

Any specific materials subject to an objection on the basis that the materials are pornographic, harmful to minors, or describe or depict sexual conduct must be removed from circulation at the school where the objection was made, within 5 days of the objection, until the completion of the objection process.

The legislation extends the existing K-3 ban on instruction relating to sexual orientation and gender identity to also include PreK-8. Charter schools must comply with this requirement.

“Some people were trying to jam it into Pre-K to get around that law. So this says Pre-K, and also goes up to grade eight, because I think what we’ve seen in these in these libraries, and in some of the books, there’s clearly a concerted effort to try to do indoctrination in the middle school grades,” DeSantis said.

In grades 9-12, the legislation requires that instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity must be age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.

“If a parent wants to engage in that with their kid at those ages, then then that’s up to them, but we should not be putting that in the curriculum in school,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis said they will be focusing on math, reading and science.

“We’re focusing on the subjects that really really matter for our party,” DeSantis explained.

The organization, Equality Florida, called this bill, along with others that were signed into law, the “largest slate of anti-LGBTQ bills in one legislative session in the state’s history.”

“This is an all out attack on freedom. Free states don’t strip parents of the right to make healthcare decisions for their children. Free states don’t ban books, censor curriculum, or muzzle free speech,” Senior Political Director of Equality Florida Joe Saunders said.

“DeSantis doesn’t see freedom as a value worth defending, he sees it as a campaign slogan in his bid for the White House. And he is setting freedom — and Florida’s reputation — ablaze in his desperation to win the GOP nomination.”