Since the beginning of the year, Florida legislation regarding laws on gender identity, sexual orientation and concealed weapons has been changed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. One new bill in specific has been dubbed the “Don’t Say Period” bill by critics. Officially named House Bill 1069, this bill has limited the K-12 instruction of sexual health and orientation. It was proposed on Feb. 22, 2023 and in an attempt to “protect the innocence of Florida’s children”, DeSantis approved it on May 17.
House Bill 1069 was drafted with the purpose of focusing attention away from learning about sexual orientation and any instruction on sexual health. The bill prohibits teachers from calling students by their nickname unless a parent has signed the Parental Authorization for Deviation from Student’s Legal Name form. In addition, it does not require teachers to address a student by anything other than their biological pronouns.
“I can’t understand why they would do this. My first concern is always going to be the health and wellness of the student. Hopefully there’s not an issue but I’ll definitely take the student’s well-being in mind first […] I usually try not to use pronouns. I prefer calling people by their name, because I think its more individual that way,” Mr. Nelson said.
The bill states that any kind of material used to instruct reproductive education must to reviewedand approved by the Department of Education. It forbids teaching on topics including sexually transmitted diseases, menstruation and human sexuality. Additionally, it prohibits instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation from K-8. Consequently, any instruction on sexual orientation must teach students that their sex is defined biologically at birth and their reproductive roles cannot change.
“I think it will be controversial between students because they all have different opinions about all of this and it really depends on how they feel,” junior Ruben Sanchez said.
Additionally, this bill expands the ability for parents to make challenges against any school books they deem inappropriate. Any material containing any type of sexual content can be banned from any kind of reading list that the school offers if a parent makes a complaint about its content.
“You shouldn’t be letting a first grader or a third grader read anything inappropriate but taking away the liberty of what people want to read can definitely affect their personality because reading books is a good way to expand knowledge and understand different aspects of life,” sophomore Lucia Astorga said.
Supporters stand by the bill in their belief that it will protect the children and keep them innocent. DeSantis himself believes Florida must keep its sanity and attempt to preserve its normalcy. The governor intends to bring consistency in the sex education taught across every district in Florida while also giving parents more opportunities to control what their children read at school.
When DeSantis signed this bill, it sparked many protests among supporters of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer community regarding its laws addressing children. Critics say this bill does not protect the students and goes against LGBTQ+ students and specifically young girls. The average age a menstruation cycle starts is 12.4, which indicated that girls typically gets their period before they reach grade 8. Critics disagree with censoring the talk of sexual health until high school since they consider that the girls should learn about these topics before they go through it themselves.
“I don’t think teaching about sexual health in the way the bill says will help the students. Kids are going to disagree because they are naturally opinionated. I think people and their ideas are constantly changing and that Florida should adapt to them” sophomore Adrian Perez said.
Students throughout Florida have expressed their opinions on this bill, with student protests going on against this bill and many others DeSantis has passed. Students in Tampa and Tallahassee have expressed their disagreement by gathering for protests to protect their own community in concern for what the future will look like.
This bill has sparked many different perspectives and ideas, both inside and outside classrooms. Already in effect since the summer, the bill will have the potential to change classrooms for years to come. Whether it will worsen or better the relationship between students and teachers or affect students’ opinions about the Florida government, only the future can tell.
