The Parental Rights in Education Act (HB 1557), commonly referred to as the Don't Say Gay law, is a Florida statute passed in 2022 that regulates public schools in Florida. The law is most notable for its controversial sections that prohibit public schools from having "classroom discussion" or giving "classroom instruction"[a] about sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through third grade or in any manner deemed to be against state standards in all grades; prohibits public schools from adopting procedures or student support forms that maintain the confidentiality of a disclosure by a student, including of the gender identity or sexual orientation of a student, from parents; and requires public schools to bear all the costs of all lawsuits filed by aggrieved parents.[1]
Introduced by Florida state legislators Joe Harding and Dennis Baxley, the legislation is generally (though not unanimously) supported by the Republican Party. In the Florida House of Representatives, the act passed in a 69 to 47 vote on February 24, 2022; with 68 Republicans and 1 Democrat voting for it; and 40 Democrats and 7 Republicans voting against it.[2] The Florida Senate passed the bill in a 22 to 17 vote on March 8, 2022; with 22 Republicans voting for it; and 15 Democrats and 2 Republicans voting against it.[3] Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill on March 28, 2022, and the act went into effect on July 1 of that year as part of Florida Statute §1001.42.[4] Its passage has prompted the introduction of various similar laws within other states and the federal government, and Florida legislators have introduced bills expanding the scope of the law.[5] The Florida Board of Education later expanded the ban on teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity to all grades K-12 in April 2023, with the exception of health or reproductive courses.[6]
The bill received support from Republican politicians and conservative organizations. However, the bill has also received widespread backlash, especially from students, who demonstrated against the act throughout Florida by holding walkouts across middle and high schools.[7] Additional organizations who have issued statements against the act include those representing teachers,[b] pediatricians,[c] psychologists,[d] and hundreds of major corporations.[14] Most prominently among businesses, The Walt Disney Company came out in opposition to the legislation following protests by its employees,[15] precipitating a feud between Disney and DeSantis that resulted in the eventual renaming of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and transferring the power to appoint its board from Disney to DeSantis and the governorship.[16][17] Polls have shown both a plurality or majority opposition to the act or support for the act, with support for the act being higher among older generations and opposition to the act being higher among younger generations.[18]
Multiple lawsuits were filed against the act with the support of advocacy groups representing parents and families of LGBT+ children; numerous other advocacy groups have also issued statements opposing the act.[e][21] After a federal district court dismissed one suit, the Eleventh Circuit (considering an appeal) indicated it would likely rule against the Parental Rights in Education Act. The groups settled with the state in March 2024 to purposely narrow the law to restrict only the direct teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms, while once again allowing discussions about the LGBT community and LGBT rights between students and teachers and allowing school libraries to carry books about the LGBT community and LGBT rights.
The act is officially titled the Parental Rights in Education Act and is described as "An act relating to parental rights in education" in the act itself.[1]
It is more commonly known as Don't Say Gay, as it has been described in headlines by the prominent news agency, the Associated Press;[22] prominent domestic newspapers such as The New York Times,[23] The Washington Post,[24] and the Los Angeles Times;[25] prominent domestic news media including ABC,[26] CNN,[27] and Fox News affiliates;[28] and prominent news media in other Anglosphere countries including ABC (Australia),[29] BBC,[30] and CBC.[31]
It is also known as Don't Say Gay or Trans, as it has been described in statements by the main nationwide organization for LGBT rights in the United States, the Human Rights Campaign;[19] the main statewide organization for LGBT rights in Florida, Equality Florida;[19] and the United Nations official for LGBT rights at the United Nations, the United Nations Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.[32][33]
The Parental Rights in Education Act does not contain the term gay, though the terms sexual orientation and gender identity are both referred to twice within the legislation.
The legislative provisions on prohibiting education on sexual orientation or gender identity restrict classroom discussion or classroom instruction instigated by third parties and school personnel, such as teachers and principals. Classroom discussion or classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited from kindergarten to third grade, and can be restricted from 4th to 12th grade to what the state deems to be either "age appropriate" or "developmentally appropriate".
The bill additionally requires schools to disclose to parents whether a child has received mental health services through the school. The legislation phrases the provision as parents not being able to be "blocked" by the school from accessing related documents. The legislation enables parents to file legal challenges against school teachings they have personal objections to. Moreover, all lawsuits filed against schools by parents under the act must be paid for by the sued school or district.[34][35][36]
The most prominent supporters of the act are several Republicans in Florida: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who signed the bill; Florida Senator Dennis Baxley, who filed the bill in the Florida Senate; former Florida Representative Joe Harding, who filed the bill in the Florida House of Representatives; Christina Pushaw, who served as press secretary to DeSantis at the time of the passage of the bill; and Florida Senator Ileana Garcia, who gave a controversial speech in support of the bill.
DeSantis said that education for children about gender identity "is trying to sow doubt in kids about their gender identity" and that such education is "trying to say that they can be whatever they want to be."[37]
Baxley rhetorically asked, "Why is everybody now all about coming out when you're at school?" and said that there are "kids trying on different kinds of things they hear about and different kinds of identities and experimenting. That's what kids do."[38]
Garcia said that "gay is not a permanent thing, LGBT is not a permanent thing",[39] a statement directly contrary to scientific evidence that sexual orientation and gender identity are not choices and cannot be changed.[40][41] Garcia later apologized.[42][43]
Pushaw said that "The bill that liberals inaccurately call 'Don't Say Gay' would be more accurately described as an Anti-Grooming Bill", and said that "If you're against the Anti-Grooming bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don't denounce the grooming of 4–8 year old children",[44] reflecting the anti-LGBT conspiracy theory that people who educate children about the LGBT community, LGBT history, LGBT rights, and same-sex marriage are practicing a form of child grooming, contrary to scientific research by experts in child development and psychology that indicate that the aforementioned education has a positive effect on children.[45][46][47]
The law attracted statements of support from many of the state's representatives in the federal government and figures outside of Florida state politics. Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democrat and representative from Hawaii, argued that the act should go further and cover not only kindergarten through to third grade, but all grades through to twelfth grade.[48] Former president Donald Trump agreed with DeSantis signing the bill, calling it "a good move" in an interview with The Washington Post, though he reportedly declined to elaborate.[49] Ten Republican members of the US House of Representatives from Florida joined senator Marco Rubio in saying that the act helped to keep classes age appropriate, believing that kids as young as five should not have to worry about their gender identity.[50]
The Florida state chapter of the conservative advocacy group Moms for Liberty supported the act as an advancement of their wishes to increase parental rights over schools. The Pinellas County subchapter's president, Angela Dubach, has called for the law to be expanded to include middle schools up to eighth grade as well.[51]
The National Review also came out in support, releasing an op-ed written by Madeline Kearns. In her editorial, Kearns claims that parental access to school medical and behavioral records on their respective children is "a no-brainer", terminology she used to also describe the prohibition on parents being restricted access from "critical decisions affecting a student's mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being".[52]
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