LGBTQ+ News
News for and about the LGBTQ+ community.
Organizer:
- Organized by
-
-
Florida teachers get new marching orders as “Don’t Say Gay” law goes into effect
-
Florida teachers get new marching orders as “Don’t Say Gay” law goes into effect
Now teachers on Orange County, FL are reporting they’ve been told to scrape off rainbow stickers from classrooms, and remove photos of their families from their desks if they have a same-sex spouse.
They’ve also been instructed to report if a student comes out as LGBTQ, according to a local teachers’ organization.
Following a meeting between the school district and attorneys last week to discuss “what behaviors would and would not be legal” under the law, the Orange County Teachers’ Association (CTA) was given the troubling new guidelines, which further prevent educators from wearing rainbows on their clothing and even discussing their same-sex partners.
Signage indicating a classroom is a “safe space” for LGBTQ students is to be taken down, and “teachers will have to report to parents if a student ‘comes out’ to them and they must use pronouns assigned at birth, regardless of what the parents allow,” the CTA reported.
-
4 Replies
-
Our resident self-loathing closet cases just reached maximum tumescence.
(Which, frankly, isn’t very much.)
-
Interesting!
Since “gays” love to flock to the wealthier areas of Florida and flaunt their stuff on the beaches and the Keys, let’s see their response to this new mandate. Am thinking it will be imposed statewide, in all venues.
-
Often times it is more likely that gays moved in, fixed up the area, and prices rose from that.
-
‘Don’t say gay’ Law: Florida should learn from the harmful legacy of Britain’s section 28
The parental rights in education Law, labelled the “don’t say gay”, also prevents teachers and school counsellors from giving support to LGBTQ+ students, without first getting permission from their parents.
Florida follows other states with similar statutes restricting classroom discussion of same-sex relationships or mandating that sex education teaches “honor and respect for monogamous heterosexual marriage”. Florida’s statute also allows parents to sue school districts for damages if they believe a teacher has broken the law.
This Law has strong echoes of section 28, the 1988 law that prevented local authorities in the UK from promoting homosexuality.
As state schools were at the time led by local authorities, section 28 prevented schools from teaching the acceptability of homosexuality as a “pretended family relationship”.
Teachers believed they would lose their jobs if they gave advice and support to LGBTQ+ students, or challenged homophobic language and bullying. LGBTQ+ teachers were left in fear, believing that their identity alone was grounds for dismissal from their job.
The legacy of section 28 shows the long-term impact legislation like this can have on students and teachers.
Section 28 emerged from the Conservative party’s 1987 election campaign, based around family values and a “parents know best” agenda.
The Conservatives portrayed the opposition Labour party as pro-gay, and school teachers, who traditionally voted Labour, as a danger to children.
Florida’s law is similarly suspicious of teachers and advocates parental vigilance
Log in to reply.