Don't Say Gay
In her satire article, Mariah describes the effects of Florida's Parental Rights in Education bill, nicknamed the "Don't Say Gay" bill.
Image: ABC News (see below), Wilfredo Lee/AP
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Don't say gay
Don't say gay
By Mariah Lumsden
By Mariah Lumsden
Governor Ron DeSantis, of Florida, passed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida early this March 2022. The bill would limit classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity. This bill would also allow for parents to sue schools for participating in forbidden classroom discussions of such topics. The LGBTQ+ community is concerned about this bill being passed, as the community faces a much higher risk of suicide than people who do not identify as LGBTQ+.
Many are worried that the passing of this bill will encourage bullying from students who are not a part of the LGBTQ+ community. One straight student, who looks like the bully from Toy Story, complained, “How are we supposed to bully gay people if we aren’t even allowed to say gay?” There seem to be huge problems on both sides of the spectrum. Of course, LGBTQ+ students are worried that their identities will become hugely invalidated, simply because they happen to live in Florida. We should be fearful that America does not decide to follow suit with the reactionary leadership of Florida any time soon.
Image: Florida Gov. Ron Desantis displays the signed Parental Rights in Education bill; Time Magazine, Douglas R. Clifford/AP
One of the other major areas of the bill is that it would also completely erase the teachings about any form of LGBTQ+ history. Representative Joe Harding was largely in support of the bill because of his background of being homophobic in high school. Harding said, “Families are families. Let the families be families. The school district doesn’t need to insert themselves at that point when children are still learning how to read and do basic math.” Children have definitely faced more challenges than learning about gay people, including living in America, where there is a school shooting incident every other week, and also living through a global plague. Gay people should most certainly be the least of every parents’ worries.
Image: Florida Sen. Annette Taddeo supports protesters outside Florida State Capitol; ABC News, Wilfredo Lee/AP
Another offputting aspect of this bill, and the banning of classroom discussions of LGBTQ+ history, is that children are still allowed to learn about horrendous people such as Christopher Columbus and Hitler, but not gay historians. What some people fail to realize is that gay people have done a lot for modern-day America. Marsha P. Johnson was an influential black trans woman, who sparked a huge push for LGBTQ+ activism during the Stonewall Riots. Sylvia Rivera was another trans woman who helped motivate the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Because of people like this that will never be part of instruction, children will never know the importance of why Miley Cyrus came in like a wrecking ball. Gay historians really paved the way so that LGBTQ+ icons could have their moments now.
Don’t Say Gay sounds similar to something Hillary Duff would have said in a commercial in 2006. And if we are speaking in terms like that, then the Don’t Say Gay bill is the gayest bill ever. Gay people deserve the right to slay, and Florida should not be regulating that right in the classroom. This is my message to everyone who’s rolling with the LGBT: Keep calm, and slay on.
Image: Joe Harding trying not to sneeze; ABC News, Phelen M. Ebenhack/AP, FILE
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