House passes bill on pronouns, banning gender teachings through 8th grade

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) –  A bill that prohibits school teachers from teaching sexual orientation or gender identity from grades PreK-8 cleared the Florida House Friday 77-35.

It also defines “sex,” puts restrictions on pronoun uses in schools, and adds guidelines for books parents are challenging.

The bill expands the Parental Rights in Education Act, falsely called “Don’t Say Gay.”

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

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

The House combined HB 1069, sponsored by Rep. Stan McClain, R-Ocala, and HB 1223, sponsored by Rep. Adam Anderson, R-Palm Harbor.

The bill defines “sex” as the classification of a person as either female or male based on the organization of the body of such person for a specific reproductive role, as indicated by the person’s sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and internal and external genitalia present at birth.

It would also 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 bill text 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.

Instructional Materials

The bill 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 bill 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.

Committees convened by a school district to review and make recommendations related to the adoption of instructional materials must include parents of students that will have access to the materials being reviewed.

All meetings of such committees must be publicly noticed and open to the public.

The bill creates an appeals process for a parent that disagrees with the school board’s determination on his or her objection.

Debate and closing

“It takes the pressure off of the teachers who are in many places are being forced to decide whether or not that they are going to for the sake of saving their jobs and careers, decide whether or not they’re going to choose to engage in a social war, in a culture war,” Rep. Chase Tramont, R-Port Orange, said.

“This bill is pro-family, it is pro-teacher, it is pro-education is pro-family, because it takes some of the most sensitive and personal issues and discussions and it keeps them in the homes where it is the responsibility of the parent, to determine the manner in which and the frankly, the timing in which the some of these issues and conversation should be taking place,” Tramont said.

Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, opposed the bill and said the impact will “harm children.”

“The families have told us, the kids have told us, the doctors have told us, when you ostracize these kids, when you shame them, you’re causing real and serious harm. That’s our sign to stop. If there are things that need to change in the law, we need to find another way because, I’ll say it again, this will harm children,” Driskell said.

Multiple representatives brought up concerns that anyone is able to have books pulled from schools.

Rep. Fabian Basabe, R-Miami, said he is concerned about people calling the bill the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

“I’m concerned that we still use the wrong term of that bill, because that disinformation is now getting propelled into advocacy groups that are now misinterpreting the intentions of these bills to children, and it’s causing a loss of lives, people are feeling that they are actually discriminated against. And while laws leave room for interpretation, I think that we as adults need to not misinterpret for political reasons,” Basabe said.

If passed, the bill takes effect July 1.

A similar bill is sponsored by Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, in the Senate.