Opponents of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education (aka “Don’t Say Gay”) believe the vagueness of the bill’s language remove all mentions of sexual orientation and gender identity at every grade level — virtually erasing queer students, teachers and families.
“It’s an intentional vagueness about age-appropriate conversations, which leads to just the general stereotype of queerness being sexually deviant and dangerous to youth, which is completely untrue, and leads many people to just hate themselves,” said Rain Weinstein, a transgender 18-year-old senior at Palm Harbor University High School.
He’s one of several youth documenting his experiences as a queer student in a TikTok account that has garnered nearly 20,000 followers: “High School Resistance.“
The bill’s language refers to “age-appropriate” classroom instruction and discussion. But Steph Ostrow, a transgender and non-binary registered mental health counseling intern in Pinellas County said kids begin to recognize stereotypes — including gender — between 18 months and three years of age.
“It’s suggested that it’s developmentally appropriate to discuss sexual attraction variation with children between the ages of 5 to 8. And that’s a direct quote from the National Sexual Violence Resource Center,” Ostrow said.
via WFSU News
