You’re not born that way, Florida’s new ‘Don’t say gay’ bill tells trans kids | Opinion

Picture a child who grew up feeling confused about their gender. Consider that after years of trying to fit in, accompanied by angst, depression, bullying, and even suicidal thoughts, they decide to live as the gender they identify with. They are transgender, or non-binary. Let’s imagine that teen is lucky enough to have accepting parents who use their preferred pronoun.

Once that child walks into a Florida public school, however, their identity may be considered “false,” as defined by lawmakers far removed from that student’s experience. The thinking goes that someone whose gender identity doesn’t align with their sex assigned at birth is only experiencing a fabrication of their “woke” imagination.

That’s the apparent premise of the new iteration of a parental-rights measure critics dubbed “Don’t say gay.” The law, passed last year, banned classroom instructions about sexual orientation and gender identity in K-3, or in a manner that’s not “age appropriate” in higher grades. House Bill 1223, introduced Tuesday by Rep. Adam Anderson, R-Palm Harbor, expands that ban from pre-K through the eighth grade and to charter schools.

Pronouns prohibited

The legislation also declares that, “It shall be the policy of every public K-12 educational institution . . . that a person’s sex is an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s sex.” Schools could not require staff to call other people by their preferred pronoun — which shouldn’t be a requirement anyway, but common courtesy. The bill also bans employees from providing “to a student his or her preferred personal title or pronouns” if they don’t “correspond to his or her sex.”

A companion bill, Senate Bill 1320, was filed in the Florida Senate. It is titled “Child protection in public schools.” The true harm to students isn’t pronouns, but legislators who think they are entitled to legislate their prejudices and how they believe young people should feel or identify themselves. These lawmakers neglect one key component of their own Republican platform: parental rights. What about parents looking for inclusive schools for their children?

Stopping a ‘trend’

During the debate over last year’s “Don’t say gay” legislation, sponsor Sen. Dennis Baxley expressed frustration over what he described as a “real trend change” of young people coming out as LGBTQ. Miami Sen. Ileana Garcia insisted that “LGBT is not a permanent thing and it is not a bad thing.” She later apologized after facing backlash.

Republican lawmakers haven’t hidden what appears to be their opinion that being gay, trans or non-binary is not a real experience, or that it is just a phase. That’s despite extensive research and medical literature that shows the opposite. The American Psychiatric Association warns that forcing a trans person to deny their identity can lead to “adverse mental health outcomes.”

The main line in defense of “Don’t say gay” has been that we should let children be children and not teach them complicated issues like sexuality and gender identity at such an early age. We can understand that many parents want to be the ones to have these conversations with their children. The real question is whether schools are indeed breeding grounds for indoctrination, or if this is a made-up crisis. Not only have school districts said they weren’t teaching those topics in K-3, the impacts of the bill since it was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year extend what proponents said was its original intent.

The Miami-Dade County School Board voted against observing LGBTQ history month last year. According to an August report in the the Florida Times-Union, Orange and Duval counties teachers were told to remove rainbow Safe Space stickers and posters as school districts analyzed their policies regarding support for LGBTQ students. Orange County school officials walked back some of that guidance, but the law’s vagueness has forced school districts to err on the side of caution, which usually means diminishing protections and safe spaces for LGBTQ children.

As Florida continues to chip away at the ability of schools to welcome and provide a safe environment for all types of students, we know who stands to lose the most. If we want to let children be children, the adults should be adults who value all children.

This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 6:27 PM.