Settlement reached in Florida that allows students and teachers to "Say gay"
E. Jean Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan was the lead attorney in this case
In a serious blow to Ron DeSantis’ efforts to turn Florida into the most anti-LGBTQ+ state in America, a settlement has been reached between Florida’s education officials and civil rights attorneys that allows students and teachers to speak freely about LGBTQ+ issues as long as it’s not part of their classroom instruction.
Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, more commonly known as “Don’t Say Gay Law”, has been used as a template for other states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and North Carolina to limit speech in classrooms regarding sexual orientation or gender identity under the guise of “protecting children”. This settlement clarifies what can be said in Florida’s classrooms but does not fully repeal the law.
Under the terms of the settlement, the Florida Board of Education will send instructions to every school district saying the Florida law doesn’t prohibit discussing LGBTQ people, nor prevent anti-bullying rules on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or disallow Gay-Straight Alliance groups. The settlement also spells out that the law is neutral — meaning what applies to LGBTQ people also applies to heterosexual people — and that it doesn’t apply to library books not being used in the classroom.
However the DeSantis regime administration calls the settlement a “major victory” since the law remains standing and his administration fully intends on appealing this settlement in court.
Related: Dozens of anti-LGBTQ+ bills just died in Florida’s legislature
The law was widely panned by civil rights organizations as being unconstitutional and was challenged in court by attorneys representing Florida’s students, parents and staff, however it was dismissed by a Federal judge in Tallahassee for “lack of standing”.
Opponents of the law said it created a chilling effect in classrooms. Some teachers said they were unsure if they could mention or display a photo of their same-sex partner in the classroom. In some cases, books dealing with LGBTQ topics were removed from classrooms and lines mentioning sexual orientation were excised from school musicals. The Miami-Dade County School Board in 2022 decided not to adopt a resolution recognizing LGBTQ History Month, even though it had done so a year earlier.
The law also triggered the ongoing legal battles between DeSantis and Disney over control of the governing district for Walt Disney World in central Florida after DeSantis took control of the government in what the company described as retaliation for its opposition to the legislation. DeSantis touted the fight with Disney during his unsuccessful run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, which he ended earlier this year.