Settlement allows Florida teachers to 'say gay' in classroom

[March 12, 2024]  By Daniel Trotta
 
(Reuters) - Florida and LGBTQ advocates on Monday settled a lawsuit over a state law on classroom instruction that grants teachers freedom to discuss sexual orientation and gender identity while also shielding the youngest students from those topics.   

Both sides claimed victory.

Equality Florida, one of the rights groups that sued to stop the 2022 law, said it was celebrating the settlement as a "landmark achievement" while the office of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called it "a major win against the activists."

 Students stage a walk out from Hillsborough High School to protest after Florida education officials voted to ban classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in all public school grades, expanding on a law signed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis that barred such lessons for younger students and was derided by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill in Tampa, Florida, U.S., April 21, 2023. REUTERS/Octavio Jones/File Photo

The Florida law had been used as a model in other states and fueled the culture wars that are part of the country's larger political polarization. Critics labeled the laws as "don't say gay," which became common usage.

While leaving the law in place, the settlement reached through the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals establishes guidelines to be used by state and local educators, freeing students and teachers to more openly discuss sex and gender topics and refer to gay and transgender people in the classroom.

But it also bans instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through the third grade - roughly for 5- to 9-year-olds.

A statement from governor's statement said opponents and the media had mischaracterized the law from the start, saying its main provision was always meant to "keep radical gender and sexual ideology out of the classrooms."

The settlement requires that parents be notified about healthcare services and questionnaires to be offered at school and gives them a chance to decline, the governor's office said.

But Equality Florida said the settlement "dismantles the most harmful impacts of the law, ensuring it cannot be wielded as a tool of discrimination. "The settlement protects student clubs such as the Gay-Straight Alliance, reinforces nondiscrimination protections, and prevents the banning of library books related to classroom topics, Equality Florida said.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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