Florida conservative group wants ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law to include … – New York Daily News

January 12, 2023 News Editor

Members of a conservative group in Florida are pushing for the state’s controversial law restricting instruction about LGBTQ issues for young children to include students through eighth grade.

Slammed by critics as “hateful,” “homophobic” and “transphobic,” the legislation commonly known as “Don’t Say Gay” was signed into law last year by the state’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.

The law, which went into effect in July, prohibits school districts from encouraging classroom discussion “about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels” for students from kindergarten through third grade — even when the student’s parents are legally married same-sex partners.

Marchers make their way toward the St. Pete Pier in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Saturday, March 12, 2022 during a march to protest the controversial “Don’t say gay” bill passed by Florida’s Republican-led legislature and now on its way to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk. (Martha Asencio-Rhine/AP)

On Wednesday, members of the Florida chapter of the conservative nonprofit Moms for Liberty told local lawmakers they think the law should also target older students.

“We are advocating to increase that as far as ages and grades to have it be K-8,” Angela Dubach, chair of the Pinellas County chapter of Moms for Liberty, said during a meeting with members of the Pinellas County legislative delegation, according to the Florida Phoenix.

Speaking at St. Petersburg College in Clearwater, Dubach urged lawmakers to consider the expansion of the law as they begin the 2023 legislation session.

Last year, a day before the law went into effect, the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement that the “dangerous” policy was a “shameful attack on students already struggling with the weight of discrimination” because it further stigmatizes LGBTQ people.

In November, a group of students, educators and parents refiled a lawsuit against the state’s board of education and the school boards in Orange, Indian River, Duval and Palm Beach counties. The suit alleges the law violates First Amendment rights, and argues its affect have been “immediate and severe.”

“The law, by design, chills speech and expression that have any connection, however remote, to sexual orientation or gender identity,” the lawsuit said.