The administration of Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Monday agreed to a settlement over the Parental Rights in Education law, which restricts the instruction of gender ideology and sexual topics in K–12 public schools.
The settlement with plaintiffs attempting to block the law preserves the legislation, signed in April 2022, but makes less ambiguous certain prohibitions and allowances on teaching.
“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,” state general counsel Ryan Newman said in a statement on behalf of Governor DeSantis. “We are victorious, and Florida’s classrooms will remain a safe place under the Parental Rights in Education Act.”
Misleadingly dubbed “Don’t Say Gay,” the law, which never mentions the word “gay,” at its passing barred public-school teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. The law was later expanded twice to include middle schoolers and then high schoolers, who were included in a subsequent state Board of Education resolution.
Last month, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit attempting to block the law, arguing that the plaintiffs had not “alleged sufficient facts” to establish standing.
“Plaintiffs have shown a strident disagreement with the new law, and they have alleged facts to show its very existence causes them deep hurt and disappointment,” the judge said. “But to invoke a federal court’s jurisdiction, they must allege more. Their failure to do so requires dismissal.”
This marked the second time the judge had dismissed the case, after being asked to weigh in on similar claims in the fall. The plaintiffs claimed that they were denied equal educational opportunities in curriculum and were subject to a discriminatory educational environment that “treats LGBTQ people and issues as something to be shunned and avoided, on pain of discipline and liability,” according to the revised lawsuit.
“This type of overtly discriminatory treatment has no place in a free democratic society and should not be permitted to stand,” they said.
As part of the settlement, the Florida Board of Education agreed to send guidance to Florida school districts clarifying that the law does not forbid all discussion around LGBT topics and individuals in the classroom, only keeping it out of formal instruction. The settlement also confirms that the law is to be equally applied to LGBT people and heterosexual people and that library books not being used for classroom instruction are excluded from its mandate.
Books that reference LGBT characters or same-sex couples are also permitted, under the terms of the settlement, “as they are not instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity any more than a math problem asking students to add bushels of apples is instruction on apple farming,” PBS reported.
Uproar over the original law catalyzed a major dispute between DeSantis and the Walt Disney Company that ended in the state of Florida stripping the entertainment company of certain tax privileges over its decision to wade into woke politics. In January, a federal district judge overseeing Disney’s First Amendment lawsuit, which was launched against DeSantis after he revoked its tax status, threw the case out.
“Frequently carrying water for the activists, the media wrote countless stories lying about the intent, design, and application of the law. The activists carried these same lies into the courtroom—thankfully, to no avail,” a statement from the governor’s office read. “Their judicial activism has failed. Today’s mutually agreed settlement ensures that the law will remain in effect and it is expected that the case will be dismissed by the Court imminently.”