As my colleague David Harsanyi rightly notes, progressives are deliberately distorting Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill by calling it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Admirably, Florida governor Ron DeSantis refuses to play along with this silly game. When asked by a reporter about his support for the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, DeSantis hit back, saying, “Does it say that in the bill? I’m asking you to tell me what’s in the bill, because you are pushing false narratives.” The reporter said that the bill prohibits instruction of gender identity and sexual orientation in the classroom, to which DeSantis added that this applied only to Florida schools’ youngest children, pre-K through third grade.
“And the idea that you wouldn’t be honest about that and tell people what it actually says, it’s why people don’t trust people like you, because you peddle false narratives, and so we disabuse you of those narratives,” DeSantis said.
This is the kind of leadership we need from Republican governors. It stands in stark contrast to that of Utah’s governor, Spencer Cox, who said that he intends to veto legislation that would protect women-only sports.
We mustn’t allow transgender activists to hijack the language in this debate. Conservatives don’t oppose transgender athletes’ participation in sports, they oppose male athletes dominating female sports. In Florida, Republicans aren’t trying to outlaw schools’ acknowledgment of gay people, they are trying to protect young children from ideological indoctrination and require school districts to be transparent with parents.