Janelle Perez: Parental rights laws will ‘kill’ gay kids

Lydia Nusbaum contributed to this report.

MIAMI (FLV) – Amidst the filing of an expansion of Florida’s K-3 Parental Rights in Education Act to PreK-8, former state Senate candidate Janelle Perez argued those kinds of proposals will “kill” gay children.

“I knew I was gay in 6th grade,” Perez said. “No one made me gay, no one told me about being gay. Actually it was quite the opposite. I was continually told it was not okay to be gay.”

“THIS! What we are doing here in Florida is not going to make kids less gay, it’s going to kill them,” she said.

Tuesday, a bill was filed by Rep. Adam Anderson, R-Palm Harbor, expanding Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act to cover other grade levels on limiting classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“What kind of message are we sending them?! These are already our most vulnerable. People always tell me how strong I am for everything I’ve been though (cancer & coming out), but they don’t know how many times in my youth I contemplated suicide,” Perez said.

“If FL GOP lawmakers cared about the safety of children, they would stop bullying the children who are at a higher risk of suicide and homelessness,” she said. “Let’s foster a community who loves them rather one who seeks to demonize them.”

The new proposal includes school policy for public K-12 educational institutions regarding pronouns.

It notes that an employee, contractor, or student in K-12 public schools may not be required, as a condition of employment or enrollment in any program, to refer to another person using that person’s preferred personal title or pronouns if the pronouns do not correspond to that person’s sex.

Employees would not be allowed to ask students for their preferred personal title or pronouns.

“We will not back down from doing what is right for our children. This legislation expands parental rights and sets standards for age-appropriate materials. Discussion about personal and adult topics should occur in the home, not in a public classroom, and not on the public dime,” Anderson told Florida’s Voice in a statement.

“So much of this is misconstrued debate about appropriate time and place. We, as legislators, have a responsibility to draw a bold line in the sand if adults and activists can’t differentiate between classroom time where they are entrusted with educating our children and personal time where they can promote or advocate for whatever causes they believe in.”

Democrats had dubbed the Parental Rights in Education law “Don’t Say Gay.”

A spokesperson for House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, said the speaker does support the legislation.

“Speaker Renner voted for the Parental Rights in Education bill and believes that our children should not be exposed to age-inappropriate materials. He will continue to champion the rights of parents, support policies that keep the focus on teaching our children the core educational skills, and push back against education activists who seek to sexualize and indoctrinate our children,” the spokesperson said.

The bill keeps the current Parental Rights in Education law provisions that prohibit school districts from not notifying a parent about their student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being, or a change in related services or monitoring.

The bill said schools cannot discourage or prohibit parental notification and involvement in critical decisions affecting a student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being.

Democrats like former Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith said the legislation leads to the “decline in the overall well-being of LGBTQ students.”

“Notice the bill title— Florida Republicans are doing more than simply retreating from their ‘Parental Rights’ message— they’re revoking the rights of parents to allow their own transgender child a safe and healthy social transition in Florida public schools thru 12th grade,” Smith said on Twitter.

Perez lost to Sen. Alexis Calatayud, R-Miami, in the 2022 election.