A bill 'based on hate & discrimination': Florida passes archaic 'Don't Say Gay' school bill

On Tuesday, the Florida state senate passed a controversial bill banning lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary schools, a measure critics say will negatively impact the LGBTQ community.

After passing both chambers of the legislature, the bill goes to Governor Ron DeSantis, who says he supports it.

LGBTQ advocates and opposition Democrats have campaigned against an anti-homophobia law, dubbed "Don't SayGay," law saying that it will affect kids in kindergarten through third grade when they are 8 to 9 years old.

This bill prohibits teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity "in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards."

According to critics, this wording could apply to older children as well.

Republicans counter that teachers and students can actually discuss these issues spontaneously and that the bill only forbids lessons on these topics from being included in school curricula.

In a tweet on Tuesday, US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona criticised the bill: "Leaders in Florida have decided that bills based on hate & discrimination take priority over our students' pandemic recovery."

Advocacy group Equality Florida alleges that state lawmakers have "locked arms with the angry mobs hurling anti-LGBTQ slurs at those asking for nothing more than a safe place to go to school without having to hide who they are."

Student protesters demonstrated outside the Tallahassee state legislature building before the Senate vote.

Republicans in Florida have been fighting what they call a battle for greater control over what their children learn in school for months.

"We are going to make sure parents are able to send their kid to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into some of their school curriculum," DeSantis said Monday at a news conference.

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In the year 2024, the Republican governor could be a presidential contender for his party - potentially challenging Donald Trump.

There is a similar education war in Florida that emphasises the teaching of critical race theory, the doctrine that racism is an inherent part of the law and legal institutions in America, serving to perpetuate social, economic, and political inequality.

Florida's lower house passed a bill last month prohibiting the teaching of race-oriented subjects in schools.

(With inputs from agencies)