Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., on Friday called out the false narratives surrounding a bill aimed at prohibiting sexual instructions for young students, which critics have falsely coined as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
“Does the truth matter or not?” DeSantis asked a reporter who questioned him on the legislation.
“And so you actually look at the bill, and it says no sexual instruction in grades pre-k through three. And so how many parents want their kindergarteners to have transgenderism or something injected into classroom instruction?” DeSantis continued debunking misleading claims about HB 1557.
“And so I think those are very young kids,” he added. “I think the legislature is basically trying to give parents assurance that, you know, they’re going to be able to go and this stuff’s not going to be there.”
HB 1557, which advanced to the Florida Senate, has been falsely attacked by the Biden White House, which claimed the legislation is “designed to attack LGBTQI+ kids.”
However, the legislation intends to empower parental rights in education by prohibiting “school district personnel from discouraging or prohibiting parental notification & involvement in critical decisions affecting student’s mental, emotional, or physical well-being” and “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade level,” specifically, kindergarten through third grade.
The Florida Senate votes on the bill on Monday.
