Miami Teachers, Union Reps Decry Florida LGBT Education Bill: ‘An Attack on Educators’

Progressive teachers in Miami are incensed by the Tuesday passage of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, which bars them from teaching young children about gender ideology and sexual orientation.

“I know firsthand the students who have made tremendous strides to be proud of who they are,” Alexandria Martin, a teacher at Miami Carol City Senior High, told the Miami Herald. “It’s a sad day for education and for our Legislature because I believe they’ve taken our state backwards.”

“I’ve always been an advocate and fought for students in the [LGBTQ+] community to feel comfortable and free,” Dannielle Boyer, a teacher at Miami Northwestern Senior High told the publication. “I don’t want my students to feel as though they have to live in fear and can’t be who they are.”

The bill that has triggered so much outrage among progressive teachers and Democrats in the Florida state legislature bans LGBTQ curriculum for kindergartners through third graders. While teachers cannot orient their lesson plans to cover gender and sexuality, the bill permits student-led discussions on them.

“Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards,” the text reads.

It passed the state Senate Tuesday and now goes to the desk of Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign it into law. Some Democrats and critics of the bill allege that it will have a chilling effect on education since parents would be able to sue a school district that they suspect is in violation of the law.

Karla Hernandez-Mats, the president of the United Teachers of Dade, the union representing teachers in that county, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, and AFL-CIO, said the bill targets teachers, who she claims haven’t been introducing these subjects anyway.

“The rhetoric about teachers is absurd. Teachers haven’t been teaching this,” she told the Herald. “This is an attack on educators. It’s unfortunate. This is political pandering because [lawmakers] are trying to move their base.”

Running with the now debunked accusation that the legislation outlaws the word “gay” from being spoken in public school classrooms, the union posted a photo on Twitter of the state of Florida filled in with the word with the caption, “All students deserve safe learning spaces.”

Joy Jackson, a teacher at Robert Renick Education Center in Miami Gardens told the Herald that the bill has “no logical meaning.” Some teachers finding fault with the bill seem to believe that it would restrict elementary schoolers from expressing their unique gender identity or sexual orientation and that “queerness” is “under siege” because of it, as Axios Tampa Bay wrote in a recent headline.

Many Republicans, including the bill’s author, have challenged the premise of that argument, pointing out that the bill is explicit in that it pertains to learning materials and pedagogy, rather than to student discussion.