President Biden criticized a controversial bill making its way through the Florida legislature that addresses conversations teachers have with their students about gender and sexual orientation.
“I want every member of the LGBTQI+ community — especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill — to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are,” the president tweeted Tuesday. “I have your back, and my Administration will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve.”
Biden retweeted an earlier post from the White House referring to the controversial Florida bill as an “attack” on gay children.
The Senate Education Committee in Florida approved SB 1834, which critics have dubbed the “don’t say ‘gay’ bill,” which says schools “may not encourage discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”
The bill’s sponsor, Republican State Sen. Dennis Baxley, says it clarifies the role of teachers in the classroom.
“Some discussions are for (having) with your parents,” Baxley said. “And I think when you start having sexual-type discussions with children, you’re entering a very dangerous zone. Your awareness should pop up right away, this isn’t teaching.”
Baxley also says that his measure does not affect private conversations with teachers and students but only relates to “procedures” and “curriculum.”
Critics disagree, saying that the bill’s wording does not clearly establish that private conversations are exempt and could alienate or harm gay children in schools.
“It is patently offensive to say that school discussions, even with young children, referring to two moms or two dads, parents like those that are sitting in this room that are your constituents … is somehow dangerous or inappropriate,” John Harris Maurer, public policy director for LGBTQ-advocacy group Equality Florida, said about Baxley’s bill.
In a press conference Tuesday, DeSantis said he has not yet seen any bill but that he supports the rights of parents to be involved in what their children are being taught in schools.
“I think that what you’ve seen in Florida, parts of the country, is schools keeping parents out of these decisions,” DeSantis explained. “And I don’t see how you can do that.”
DeSantis added, “I also think one of the things that I think the legislature is getting at is everything should be age-appropriate.”
DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw told Fox News that the media has adopted an “entirely false” narrative about the proposed legislation.
“There is nothing in this bill preventing anyone from ‘saying gay’,” Pushaw said. “It’s about age-appropriate education on gender and sexual orientation.”
Pushaw added that DeSantis will reserve comment on whether or not he intends to sign the bill until he reviews it in its final form.
HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?
This development comes after parents in Florida were notified that their daughter, who is in the sixth grade, attempted suicide twice following secret meetings with the school about the her gender identity without parental knowledge.
The school began calling the twelve-year-old by male pronouns and agreed to keep her parents in the dark because of their Christian beliefs.
Other parents reported similar incidents elsewhere in Florida and in other states. The lawsuits filed by the parents allege that the schools have used “secret meetings” to manipulate and coerce impressionable children to transition their gender.
Ken Ham, discussing the Florida Bill and the Biden administrations response, explained:
“First of all, God who created all things (not the President of the USA), is the one who has the right to tell us the truth concerning gender. And He does so in His Word, ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male & female he created them.’ (Genesis 1:27). Secondly, Parents (and particularly the father as the spiritual head of the house), not public school educators, are the ones God has entrusted to train children. ‘…he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;’ (Psalm 78:5–7)”
