Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law in March that forbids teachers from teaching kindergarten through third grade students about sexual orientation and gender identity.
The law from the potential presidential candidate isn’t the only of its kind. More than a dozen states, including Ohio and Iowa, are considering legislation similar to the Florida law. Beyond that, there have been at least 117 bills that target the transgender community introduced this legislative session.
These laws aren’t just homophobic and transphobic but are also dangerous. It is deeply unethical to limit children’s education on the basis of bias and prejudice.
One obvious problem with these types of laws is that they will erase major chapters of important contributions to U.S. history. Critical events from the 1969 Stonewall Riots to the landmark Supreme Court case of Obergefell v. Hodges will be missing from student’s educations.
Beyond that, this law fundamentally limits student’s access to affirming spaces for the development and acceptance of their own personal identities.
Children can become aware of their sexual orientation and gender identity very early in life. According to a 2018 study from San Diego State University, nearly 1% of 9- and 10-year olds already self-identify as gay or transgender. Children are aware of gender much earlier, with most children being able to categorize their own gender by age 3, according to Mayo Clinic.
It is really important that LGBTQ+ youth have access to spaces that positively affirm their identities. According to The Trevor Project, affirming environments are linked to reduced suicide risk among LGBTQ+ youth. This study also found that school environments have the strongest association with reduced odds of suicide attempts.
This is a very serious issue, especially because the LGBTQ+ youth are already at a higher risk of suicide because of how they are stigmatized in society. According to a 2022 survey from The Trevor Project, nearly half of LGBTQ+ youth have seriously considered suicide suicide in the past year.
Educators can’t cultivate affirming environments for LGBTQ+ youth if they can’t even discuss gender or sexuality, or even provide books that feature LGBTQ+ characters. These homophobic and transphobic laws deny students of the life-saving affirmative environments that they deserve.
It’s a vitally important time to support LGBTQ+ youth by voting against candidates who support homophobic legislation, voicing your opinion to local representatives and refusing to support companies that contribute to anti-LGBTQ+ politics. LGBTQ+ youth and allies can also find resources and support through The Trevor Project.
Creating and maintaining affirming environments for all youth is quite literally life saving, especially in schools.
Angeline Terry can be reached at Terr2351@stthomas.edu.
Do you know what’s obvious about your editorial?
Either that you didn’t bother to read a completely reasonable, 7 page bill or that you are willfully misrepresenting its’ contents if you had. Either way it’s going to make your diploma not worth the paper it was printed on.
Since you folks won’t drop the “don’t say gay” label to a bill that says we should not have teachers indoctrinate children in sexual behaviors or gender identity who are in third grade or under (single digit age children who don’t even fully understand these concepts or understand them at all), I’m encouraging those who aren’t absolutely insane to call this “the anti-groomer law”.
Kids of that age are pre rational, meaning that their ability to learn is strictly concrete. They learn by memorization and mimicry and cannot reason. To plant such far out ideas that men can be women and worn can be men is nothing short of child abuse.
You want to plant ideas in their heads that are contrary to all reason and the entirety of all of human knowledge until about 10 seconds ago. If you have a problem with the Florida law, it means only that you want children to be molded in a strictly perverted way that will be damaging to them for the rest of their life and probably for the sake of gaining or maintaining your woke bonafides.
Is it so crazy to want teachers to teach things like science, history, math and English? I didn’t know hardly anything about my teachers personal lives or opinions growing up, but I did know (and still know) why the strategies of World War I directly influenced strategies in World War II, how to do geometry proofs, and how photosynthesis works. I guess I’m stupid to think that’s the sort of thing school is about.
We literally just went through 2 years in which many public school teachers across the country were such incredible narcissists that they wanted to be viewed as heroes (and viewed themselves as heroes) while literally refusing to do their jobs and not go back to school at the cost of their students education and well being.
If there’s any justice in the world, the public school system will collapse as parents realize what garbage these “heroes” are trying to push on their kids instead of reading, writing and arithmetic and the only time you or your kids will be exposed to these peoples ideas is when they are foaming your latte.