(LifeSiteNews) — The DeSantis administration has inexplicably declared victory for keeping its so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law in place after signing an agreement that neuters the intent of the law, allowing LGBT influencers within Florida school systems to continue virtually unencumbered in their efforts to indoctrinate public school children.
The state of Florida reached a settlement last week with the pro-LGBT group Equality Florida and other plaintiffs in a case challenging the Parental Rights in Education Act, which was enacted in 2022 to restrict classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools.
The settlement, which was agreed to by the DeSantis administration, leaves the statute in place but contains very concerning language that Christian Family Coalition Florida (CFC) believes LGBT activist teachers and administrators will use to violate the original intent and spirit of the law, which came about in response to growing parental outrage over rampant LGBT indoctrination in classrooms across Florida.
Cross-dressing, same-sex school dances are A-OK
Among other provisions, the settlement allows LGBT-promoting “safe space” stickers and discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, as long as they are not part of formal instruction.
It also explicitly permits student cross-dressing, same-sex school dances, reading assignments and school plays with LGBT themes, LGBT “anti-bullying” instruction – which groups like the CFC interpret as code for LGBT indoctrination – and on-campus extracurricular activities such as Gay-Straight Alliances, which are notorious for indoctrinating and sexualizing schoolchildren.
The agreement ‘inverts the purpose of the statute’
“The settlement draws a false equivalency between destructive LGBTQ lifestyle choices and traditional heterosexual relationships and families, and between transgenderism and a biology-based understanding of sex,” said the CFC in a statement to LifeSiteNews.
Under the guise of ‘non-discrimination’ and ‘equal application’ of the prohibition on sexual orientation and gender identity instruction, the settlement forbids ‘instruction on the normalcy of opposite-sex attraction’ and states ‘it would violate the statute to instruct students that heterosexuality is superior or that gender identity is immutable based on biological traits,’ which completely inverts the purpose of the statute.
The settlement was announced just three days after Florida’s 60-day legislative session came to an end, which hamstrings parental rights groups’ statewide efforts.
“We’re disappointed that CFC Florida and other pro-family organizations that worked so hard to get the Parental Rights in Education Act enacted were not consulted for our input before this settlement was reached,” said CFC Florida Founder and Executive Director Anthony Verdugo.
“We’re working on a legislative package for the next legislative session to address all the loopholes we believe this settlement has opened, which we fully expect LGBT activist teachers and administrators will be working to exploit. But we know we can’t wait until the next session to take action,” continued Verdugo. “That’s why we’ve already begun the process of mobilizing parental rights advocates in counties across the state to lobby their school boards to close these loopholes at the school district level to protect our children from LGBTQ indoctrination.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office described the deal as a “major win,” after signing the agreement gutting the law.
“We fought hard to ensure this law couldn’t be maligned in court, as it was in the public arena by the media and large corporate actors,” said Ryan Newman, an attorney for the state of Florida. “We are victorious, and Florida’s classrooms will remain a safe place under the Parental Rights in Education Act.”
LGBT groups more convincingly declared victory, saying that the agreement was a “historic win.”
“Today’s settlement reaffirms the rights of Florida’s students and teachers to openly discuss and learn about LGBTQ+ people, marking a victory for free expression and inclusivity for LGBTQ+ students, families, and teachers alike,” said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), in a press release.
NCLR continues to assert that the motivation behind enactment of the Parental Rights in Education Act law is hostility to LGBT-identifying persons.
National implications
Following Florida’s lead in 2022, similar laws were enacted in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, and North Carolina. "This has national implications because Florida was considered a pioneer in the parental rights arena when this legislation passed in 2022,” CFC representative John Labriola told LifeSiteNews.
“LGBT activists across the country may be looking at this settlement as a template for undermining similar legislation in other states if we don’t sound the alarm,” he warned.
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