The Florida Department of Education on Thursday restricted the Advanced Placement Psychology course over its gender-identity and sexual-orientation lessons, arguing that their inclusion violates state law.
College Board, the body that develops the AP classes, said in a statement: “We are sad to have learned that today the Florida Department of Education has effectively banned AP Psychology in the state by instructing Florida superintendents that teaching foundational content on sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal under state law.”
Florida said districts must remove the prohibited sections as a condition of teaching the course, the organization said. Last year, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education law, dubiously dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics, banning the teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation in grades K–3. In April, the measure was expanded to include grade levels up through twelfth, with some exceptions.
College Board said the course asks students to “describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development.” It claimed gender and sexual orientation have been elements of AP Psychology since the course was released 30 years ago.
Florida and the College Board started sparring over the course in June. Since then, College Board has insisted it cannot “censor” course content in response to regulations. The deletion of sexual orientation and gender identity would make the “advanced” designation of the class inappropriate, the organization said.
Instead of removing the objectionable topics, College Board is directing Florida districts not to offer the class.
“Just one week before school starts, the College Board is attempting to force school districts to prevent students from taking the AP Psychology Course,” the Florida Department of Education told National Review in a statement. “The Department didn’t ‘ban’ the course. The course remains listed in Florida’s Course Code Directory for the 2023-24 school year. We encourage the College Board to stop playing games with Florida students and continue to offer the course and allow teachers to operate accordingly.”
The Florida Department of Education received confirmation from the International Baccalaureate (IB) program and the Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) diploma that all of their courses, including in advanced psychology, could be offered without violating state law, the governor’s press office said.
In its rebuke, the College Board cited the opinion of the American Psychological Association that “excluding discussion of this content not only deprives students of an understanding of the breadth of psychological science, it prevents them from understanding human development and identity.”
The APA is notorious for radical recommendations and progressive activism.
A division of the APA at one point launched a committee on consensual non-monogamy (CNM) encouraging “diverse” forms of relationships. These “include, but are not limited to, polyamory, open relationships, swinging, and other types of ethical non-monogamous relationships,” according to a mission statement.
The task force, it said, is committed to advancing research, psychological practice, education and training, public awareness, and social justice around those who engage in polyamory.
“Use psychological knowledge to advocate for the advancement of social justice, public interest and the welfare of people engaged in CNM,” one goal states.
After George Floyd’s murder, the APA released recommendations on how to address the country’s “racism pandemic” amid the riots and national backlash.
“We are living in a racism pandemic, which is taking a heavy psychological toll on our African American citizens,” APA president Sandra Shullman said, noting that racism is associated with “a host of psychological consequences.”
A post published on the APA website in September 2020 said that recent police killings motivated the organization’s leaders to redouble their efforts to “dismantle institutional racism over the long term, including within APA and the field of psychology.” The post approvingly quoted then-president of the Association of Black Psychologists Theopia Jackson, who said: “Every institution in America is born from the blood of white supremacist ideology and capitalism—and that’s the disease.”
The APA has also allegedly cracked down on dissent against gender ideology within its membership. John Staddon, a neuroscience professor at Duke University, was kicked off the American Psychological Association’s email listserv for sending posts stating that there are only two sexes, Newsweek reported in 2021.