Disney Pledges to Help Repeal ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law After Florida’s DeSantis Signs Measure

Despite widespread outrage, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday signed into law a bill that bans classroom instruction about the diversity of sexualities and genders that he says will protect children from “sexual instruction.”

On Monday, DeSantis signed into law the "Parental Rights in Education" bill, better known as House Bill 1557 or simply the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

When the law takes effect in July, it will ban education about LGBTQ identities for children between kindergarten and third grade, and advise "age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate" lessons for older children that conform to state academic standards. The law will allow parents to sue schools or teachers who engage with those topics.

"We will continue to recognize that in the state of Florida, parents have a fundamental role in the education, health care and well-being of their children. We will not move from that," DeSantis said at the bill’s signing.

The bill has been furiously protested since it was introduced in January, with US President Joe Biden speaking out about it as well as LGBTQ advocacy groups and corporate media giant Disney, which operates the huge EPCOT Center theme park in Florida and is a major donor to local politicians.

After DeSantis signed the bill on Monday, Disney issued a statement saying it “should never have been signed into law” and promising to support its repeal.

“Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that. We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country,” the statement added.

Equality Florida, the state's leading LGBTQ advocacy group, also said earlier this month that it intends to challenge the law in court.

Students gather to protest after Florida's House of Representatives approved a Republican-backed bill that would prohibit classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, in Winter Park, Florida, U.S., March 7, 2022 in this still image obtained from a video posted on social media.

© REUTERS / TWITTER/@PROUDTWINKIE @MDDIZORNE

Opponents of the bill have called attention to the detrimental mental health effects on LGBTQ youth who feel unsupported, including a vastly higher rate of attempted suicide as compared to non-LGBTQ youth.

“One way schools can support LGBTQ youth is by including positive content about LGBTQ people and issues in classroom curriculums,” said the Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ youth, in a study summary published in August 2021.

“Representation in school curriculums can affirm LGBTQ youth’s sexual and gender identities. In addition to creating affirming environments, schools can also prevent suicide by providing all staff and students with comprehensive suicide prevention training,” the group added.

However, for DeSantis and his supporters, the concern seems to be that children will learn to be more accepting of transgender peers - or come out as trans themselves after learning about them in school.

“[H]ow many parents want their kids to have transgenderism or something injected into classroom instruction?” DeSantis said at a March 4 press conference. “It’s basically saying for our younger students, do you really want them being taught about sex? And this is any sexual stuff. But I think clearly right now, we see a focus on transgenderism, telling kids they may be able to pick genders and all of that.”

His spokesperson, Christina Pushaw, went even further, calling it an “anti-grooming bill” and claiming that anyone who opposed the bill was “probably a groomer,” a term that refers to how pedophiles lure children into trusting them so they can exploit them sexually.

That posturing evokes the 1970s “Save Our Children” campaign spearheaded by pop singer Anita Bryant. The movement, which started in Florida’s Dade County before spreading to several other states, aimed to revoke laws protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination. The movement’s momentum was finally blunted after gay San Francisco City Councilor Harvey Milk organized an effective effort to convince Californians to vote down a referendum banning LGBTQ teachers from California schools.

The Florida bill is one of more than 160 that potentially infringe on LGBTQ rights in US state legislatures this year, according to the LGBTQ rights group Human Rights Campaign. These bills span a wide variety of topics, from banning trans girls from competing on girls’ sports teams to banning trans women from using women’s restrooms.