The new norm iswill be put to a vote by the state Board of Education on April 19 and has already been approved by the Department of Education, two entities run by persons appointed by DeSantis, the local press reported on Wednesday. It will not need a parliamentary vote to take effect.
If approved, teachers will be prohibited from “intentionally” teaching topics related to “sexual orientation or gender identity” students from preschool to the last year of secondary education.
Last year’s initiative, dubbed “don’t say gay” by its detractors, it was applied to students of eight or nine years.
DeSantis made it one of the emblematic laws of his cultural battle against politicians, professors and companies whom he accuses of wanting to impose his progressive ideology on others.
The governor has courted more conservative voters with his controversial proposals on education and immigration in recent months.
It is a strategy that has made him the rising star of the American right and one of the favorite Republicans for the 2024 presidential elections, although he has not yet announced his candidacy.
The new education law has drawn rejection from pro-LGBTQ activists like the organization Equality Florida.
“This has been the goal all along: widespread censorship and banning of books directed at LGBTQ people in service of his (DeSantis) presidential ambitions,” the group tweeted Wednesday.
“Now educators, at any grade level, and their livelihoods are in the spotlight for acknowledging that LGBTQ people exist,” she added.
The entrance Florida is preparing to extend controversial education law to all courses was first published on newspaper TODAY.
