Just yesterday, we published a story on Gov. Ron DeSantis’s speech to the legislature in which he declared Florida to be the “freest” state in the Union. Yeah, well – depending on the freedoms you care about.

According to the Washington Blade, many in the state’s legislature  – the majority? – do not believe in Florida high school students’ right to learn about LGTBQ issues, at all.

From the Blade:

A Republican majority Florida House Education & Employment Committee passed HB 1557, the Parental Rights in Education bill, colloquially referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill advancing the measure to the full House.

HB 1557 and its companion Senate bill SB 1834, would ban classroom discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, erasing LGBTQ identity, history, and culture — as well as LGBTQ students themselves.

The bill also has provisions that appear to undermine LGBTQ support in schools and include vague parental notification requirements which could effectively “out” LGBTQ-identifying students to their parents without their consent.

The fact that Florida is considering refusing to teach high school students anything about the unique issues applicable to sexuality is concerning enough. But that last paragraph is even more disturbing. The vague threat to “out” students to their parents borders on criminalizing being LGBTQ. We are talking about kids, those under 18 are not emancipated and a student could be subjected to serious punishment if residing in the “wrong family” in which to be LGBTQ.

Florida may be the freest state in the union when it comes to getting and passing on COVID, or vaccination requirements but a lot of people interpret and measure freedom a bit more broadly. Governor DeSantis apparently believes “freedom” begins and ends with COVID restrictions.

Meanwhile, forget DeSantis and let’s start rallying on behalf of Florida teens because this law seems to truly threaten their lives, or at least quality of life, by inviting abusive behavior, both at school and at home.

Florida, home to be free to live terrified as a maturing LGBTQ kid.

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