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A new bill that seeks to prevent the sexualization of children in elementary schools and give parents a vote in the education of their children, advanced this Tuesday in the Florida Senate Education Committee. Yesterday, social media was filled with lies and misinformation on the matter and liberal media dubbed the bill “Don’t say gay.”
After Gov. Ron DeSantis came out in favor of the bill, stressing that parents should have a say when it comes to what happens in schools, “#DontSayGay” became trending topic.
“We’ve seen instances of students being told by different folks in school, ‘Oh, don’t worry, don’t pick your gender yet, do all this other stuff.’ They won’t tell the parents about these discussions that are happening,” DeSantis said.
We should all agree that parents ought to have a vote when it comes to their children’s education and have a right to be informed about what goes on at school. There should be no negotiation on that. Now, the most controversial issue, where the “Don’t Say Gay” comes from, which sounds terrible and at first glance causes rejection rightfully so, is based on lies.
The bill does not forbid students from talking about sexual orientation issues, let alone children being allowed to say the word “gay.” What it prohibits is “encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate.”
It is impossible to agree among millions of parents – with different beliefs and lifestyles – on what a child should learn about sexuality and gender. Some will believe that certain topics should be addressed too early, others will prefer the child to ask first, some want their children to grow up in a liberal environment, but others want them to be raised with conservative values and religious precepts. Which view of sexuality should be taken as the rule? I firmly believe that none should be imposed. Every family thinks differently and every child is also a different case.
Being honest and true to my principles, I would not want my children to be taught gender theory in school, but neither do I want, nor do I have the authority, to force children of parents with different views to listen to my conservative and religious ideas. Virtue comes from the freedom to choose, if it is forced it does not count. The sensible thing is that we come to the agreement that neither imposes its vision on the other.
The issue of children’s education is one of the fundamental issues that will lead political discussions and will define votes in the following years, because children are the most important thing in a person’s life and we are seeing more and more reports of how some crazy people decide to use their position as teachers to expose false and harmful theories to children who are not even old enough to understand.
No matter what differences we may have in the way we see the world, for the sake of the children, we should agree that it is not appropriate for a stranger —you don’t really know who the teacher is — to be talking about sexuality and gender to an elementary school child.
Vanessa Vallejo. Co-editor-in-chief of El American. Economist. Podcaster. Political and economic analysis of America. Colombian exile in the United States // Vanessa Vallejo. Co-editora en jefe de El American. Economista. Podcaster. Análisis político y económico de América. Colombiana exiliada en EE. UU.