Florida school condemned for rule notifying parents about LGBTQ students

5 July 2022, 17:14

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By Jazmin Duribe

"A lot of times kids assume that kids are gay or trans; they will easily be able to hurt them."

Florida's Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed the Don't Say Gay law, went into effect on July 1 and the state's public school districts have already started rolling out questionable policies.

Earlier this year, Florida's House of Representatives passed the Don't Say Gay bill. The bill was imposed to ban the discussion of all LGBTQ+ topics at primary grade level in Floridian education, and wherever Floridian school boards believe it's "not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students".

Now, the Leon County School Board have approved its problematic LGBTQ Inclusive School Guide that was created to outline state laws for teachers and administrators.

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One of the policy's that has caused a lot of debate on social media is the notion that the school will tell parents if a student who is "open about their gender identity" is in a P.E (physical education) class or on an overnight trip with their child. The policy could be dangerous and would effectively out LGBTQ+ students because it would be revealing their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The guidelines read: "Upon notification or determination of a student who is open about their gender identity, parents of the affected students will be notified of reasonable accommodation options available."

The guidelines continue: "Parents or students who have concerns about rooming assignments for their student’s upcoming overnight event based on religious or privacy concerns may request an accommodation."

However, the policy also states that a student’s sexual orientation, gender identity or expression "should not be shared with others without their input and permission".

Kailey Sandell, who is a student at Leon High School, shared at the meeting: "The notification to all the parents can create a very stressful and unwanted situation to trans and LGBTQ students. A lot of times kids assume that kids are gay or trans; they will easily be able to hurt them."

In addition to this, representatives of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association said school officials told them that rainbow articles of clothing could no longer be worn, LGBTQ safe space stickers would need to be taken down from classroom doors and photos of their partners (if of the same sex) would have to be removed from their desks.

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