DeSantis to broaden so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law to 12th grade, amid library book removals and school board confusion

• Florida's board of education is considering an expansion to a Parental Rights law critics call "Don't Say Gay."

• It would limit instructions about gender identity and sexual orientation for up to 12th grade.

• It comes as DeSantis is widely expected to run for president as soon as May.

Florida's board of education is considering restricting instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation for up to grade 12, effectively expanding a controversial education law that Democrats and LGBTQ rights groups have derided as "Don't Say Gay."

Under the proposal, which was endorsed on Wednesday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis'  press secretary, teachers could not instruct about sexual orientation or gender identity through twelfth grade, unless it's required by state academic standards or is part of sex education or health classes. The rule would still give parents the option of taking their children out of sex ed.

The proposal aimed to clarify the 2022 law, formally known as the Parental Rights in Education Act, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz told reporters on Thursday. While the 2022 law prohibited instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation for up to third grade, it also contained ambiguous language that such instruction in higher grades must be "age appropriate or developmentally appropriate."

The education standards must not "incorporate gender ideology or any of these theories in math, social studies, or anything else," Diaz said.

Some Florida school boards have shown they're confused about how to abide by the Parental Rights Act, and it's not certain that the rule change would clear up the confusion as teachers worry they could inadvertently violate the rules and risk their jobs.

For instance, in Miami, board members rejected measures to celebrate LGBTQ History Month even though the governor's office indicated it wouldn't violate the law.

The contentious battle over the 2022 law established DeSantis as a chief culture warrior who is widely expected to join the 2024 GOP nomination battle. It also led the governor to strip Disney World of its self-governing status after the company publicly pledged to work toward the repeal of the Parental Rights Act.

The latest proposal does not need to go through the legislature to pass. A hearing on the rule is set for April 19 before the seven-member state board of education. DeSantis nominated most of the members, who go before the Florida Senate for approval.

DeSantis appeared at a press conference Thursday with Diaz when a reporter asked him about the rule change. The governor turned the question over to his education commissioner and didn't address it himself. Bryan Griffin, the governor's press secretary, sent a tweet Wednesday signaling DeSantis' support for the measure.

"There is no reason for instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to be part of K-12 public education. Full stop," he wrote.

Officials will meet about the proposal in April

Brandon Wolf, press secretary for the LGBTQ rights organization Equality Florida, warned that the proposal would threaten teachers' licenses. It was listed under a portion of the Florida Register that detailed professional conduct.

"After a year's worth of gaslighting and assurances that the Don't Say LGBTQ law was narrowly focused, the DeSantis administration is saying the quiet part out loud: they believe that it is never appropriate to acknowledge the existence of LGBTQ people, or our contributions to society, in schools," Wolf said.

Wolf was alluding to the fact that DeSantis and his allies often pushed back against critics of the Parental Rights Act last year by stressing that it would only apply until third grade.

Randy Kosec Jr., a chief in the Education Department's Office of Professional Practices Services, first made the proposal, according to documentation. Diaz approved the proposal for review.

"Students should be spending their time in school learning core academic subjects, not being force-fed radical gender and sexual ideology," Diaz wrote on Twitter. "In Florida, we're preserving the right of kids to be kids."

The proposal published to the Florida Administrative Register, a document that lays out policymaking by state officials to the public, on March 16. The timeline means the document was public before a feud broke out between DeSantis and former President Donald Trump.

The Orlando Sentinel first reported the change in policy being considered.

The proposal is separate from a bill that has been introduced in the legislature that would expand the Parental Rights Act through eighth grade. That bill would also ban teachers from using pronouns that don't align with a student's sex assigned at birth. Democrats in the legislature have given it the moniker "Don't Say They," and it has advanced through one subcommittee in the Florida legislature. 

Proponents of such restrictions have said that parents should have the right to decide what their children learn in the classroom.

But critics have said they're worried about chilling the speech of LGBTQ teachers or parents, and about students being bullied or outed to families who don't accept them. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the classroom restrictions "completely, utterly wrong" during Wednesday's briefing.

The current law already has had effects in Florida schools. Some have removed books exploring sexual orientation and gender identity from their libraries, though it's unclear for what grades. According to the governor's office, they have included the memoir "Gender Queer," "This Book Is Gay," and "Flamer."

DeSantis defended the removal of the books in a press conference this month, calling them "pornographic" and broadcasting photos to a projector of certain parts of the books that showed drawings of people having sex or masturbating.

The board in 2021, also under DeSantis, banned teaching "critical race theory" in the classroom and The New York Times' 1619 Project.

March 23, 2023: This story originally ran on March 22, 2023, and has been updated with additional statements as they became available. 

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