Florida Is Protecting Parental Rights

E arlier this month, President Biden called Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill “hateful” and declared on Twitter that “every member of the LGBTQI+ community — especially the kids” should rest assured of his administration’s support. This is what we’ve come to expect from the president whose campaign promised unity but whose rhetoric is straight from the Democratic radicals’ playbook.

In reality, the bill in question — which is currently being considered by the Florida legislature — is not an attack on sexual minorities but an attempt to pry parental rights out of the hands of ideologues. HB 1557 would require schools to notify parents if they become aware of changes in the student’s mental, emotional, or physical health — that is, “unless a reasonably prudent person would believe that such disclosure would result in abuse, abandonment, or neglect, as those terms are defined in s.39.01.” The bill would make it easier for parents to bring action against the school district, should their rights under the transparency mandate be ignored.

Laws like this are important safeguards in these polarized times when schools — at the behest of activists — too often play psychologist and parent with other people’s children.

The most controversial part of the bill is its provision that “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” (An earlier, less specific version of the bill had stated: “A school district may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels…” [Emphasis added.])

Opponents claim that this amounts to compelling teachers to pretend sexual minorities don’t exist — a “Don’t Say Gay” bill. However, the key phrase here is kindergarten through grade 3. In some states, LGBT ideology is introduced before children can even write their own names. Children as young as five are taught the sinister fiction that they may have been born in the wrong body. It’s no wonder parents object. The more legitimate concern is that the bill’s wording — “age-appropriate” and “developmentally appropriate” — is overbroad, although this is at least partly mitigated by the qualifier “in accordance with state standards.”

Critics have pejoratively described the bill as “censorship,” but it is perfectly appropriate to censor adult themes and ideas around small children. Beyond teaching the acceptance of differences, why confuse children under eight years old, most of whom do not yet understand the biology of sexual reproduction? What need is there for schools to introduce young children to the highly contentious metaphysical claim that your sexed body may not be your “true” gender? If parents wish to discuss these themes with their children, they are of course free to do so.

“I think most parents, they want to know what’s going on in the schools. They want to make sure that everything is age-appropriate,” Florida governor Ron DeSantis said when asked about the bill. “I don’t want the schools to kind of be a playground for ideological disputes.” Though DeSantis said he hadn’t yet read the bill’s particulars, he told reporters unequivocally that “hiding things from the parent” as well as “injecting these concepts about choosing your gender” is entirely inappropriate in education.

These are not hypothetical concerns. In November, the Littlejohn family filed a lawsuit against Leon County School Board in federal district court in Northern Florida, after they were excluded from welfare decisions regarding their 13-year-old daughter. The Littlejohns had informed the school that their daughter was confused about her gender and made clear that they did not consent to social transition. However, it later transpired that school staff had held private meetings with her, asking which pronouns she would prefer, which restrooms she would like to use, whether she would like to stay with the boys on overnight trips, and whether they should keep her parents in the dark.

Florida lawmakers are not the only ones pushing back on this kind of progressive overreach in schools. Last year, Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) introduced the Empower Parents to Protect Their Kids Act specifically to “require elementary schools and secondary schools that receive Federal funds to obtain parental consent before facilitating a child’s gender transition in any form, and for other purposes.” Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) introduced a Parents’ Bill of Rights, which would grant parents access to information about a school’s visiting and third-party contractors, curriculum content, records about their child, and any incidents involving their child.

Similarly, the backlash against critical race theory helped elect Governor Glenn Youngkin in Virginia’s gubernatorial race last year. Youngkin’s first executive order was to end “the use of inherently divisive concepts, including critical race theory, and restoring excellence in K-12 public education.”

It’s also not just conservatives who are tired of the attempted activist coup in education. Take San Francisco, where just last week parents overwhelmingly recalled three progressive school-board members. As NR’s editors wrote at the time, their reason for doing so was simple: Progressive sacred cows were getting in the way of their children’s education, and they’d had enough. Conservative lawmakers have likewise identified the real aggressors and are right to act accordingly.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect that the Florida bill’s language has been revised from an earlier draft.