This past Friday, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis fired back at the misrepresentation of a new bill from the state that prohibits the instruction of any LGBTQ topics to any young children.
The media has hurled criticisms at HB 1557, which has been named the “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” accusing Republicans of placing LGBTQ youth in danger by outing them to their parents or preventing them from having access to learn about their sexuality. DeSantis pushed back against this narrative for the bill as part of a press conference this past Friday.
“You actually look at the bill, and it says, ‘no sexual instruction in grades Pre-K through 3,’” he stated. “And so, how many parents want their kindergarteners to have transgenderism or something injected into classroom instruction? And so, I think those are very young kids. I think the legislature is basically trying to give parents assurance that they’re gonna be able to go, and this stuff’s not gonna be there.”
WATCH:
DeSantis claimed the bill’s intent was to ensure that young children were protected from being taught about inappropriately sexual topics.
“Clearly, right now, we see a lot of focus on the transgenderism – telling kids that they may be able to pick genders and all that,” he stated. “I don’t think parents want that for these young kids, and so I think that’s what they were trying to do, and I think that’s justifiable.”
“I think it’s inappropriate to be injecting those matters, like transgenderism, into a kindergarten classroom,” the governor expanded. “At the same time, if you oppose that, you have a responsibility to be honest about it … you can create a false narrative, you can stage a protest, you can do all those things, but you’re not telling the truth about what’s actually there.”
DeSantis went on to point out the inconsistencies between what was actually part of the bill and what was being misreported by various members of the media.
“…there’s this massive gulf between what it actually says with respect to these very young kids versus what some of these protests in the capital or whatever are about,” he claimed. “And I get it, if you are intentionally just trying to create a political narrative and you know it’s not true, but you still do it, that’s unfortunately the world we live in.”
“But I do feel that there’s some people who haven’t read it and who are actually accepting some of the narratives whole cloth,” he continued. “Be very, very careful. When you see that eco system starting to spin up narratives, be very, very careful about accepting any of that whole cloth.”
DeSantis stated that many Americans have dealth with many things over the past couple years that have left them skeptical but noted that if HB1557 is sent to him with any extreme changes he will just have to look at the new bill for “what it is.”
“But to provide protections for parents for preschoolers, kindergartners, first-graders, that is something that I think most parents, you know, would appreciate it,” he stated in conclusion. “We send the kids to school, young kids, we want them to learn the basics. Some of these issues that are just simply not age appropriate, I think parents want to see protection for [them].”