Cruel amendment to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill would force schools to out LGBT+ students

An amendment to Florida House Bill 1557, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, would force school officials to out LGBT+ students to their parents.

HB 1557, which passed through the House Judiciary Committee last week, would effectively ban school districts from encouraging “classroom instruction” on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The proposed legislation would impact students in “kindergarten through grade 3” or in discussion on LGBT+ issues in a manner that is not “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students” in line with state standards.

Under HB 1557, school officials would not be able to “discourage or prohibit” notification on anything related to a “student’s mental, emotional or physical well-being” to the student’s parents. But school districts and personnel could withhold such information if a “reasonably prudent person would believe that disclosure would result in abuse, abandonment or neglect”.

However, a recent amendment – filed by the bill’s sponsor Representative Joe Harding – states that a school principal or “his or her designee shall develop a plan, using all available governmental resources, to disclose such information within 6 weeks after the decision to withhold such information from the parent”.

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