Commentary: The secret plan behind Florida’s “don’t say gay” bill: Bankrupting public education – By Amanda Marcotte (Salon) / February 15, 2022
Republicans seek to use “don’t say gay” bills to gut public education like they did abortion access
Republicans widely view the “critical race theory” hoax as a crucial component to regaining the governorship of Virginia in 2021, so it’s not a surprise that the party is rapidly expanding its national war on educators under the guise of “parental rights” in 2022. Now the book banning impulse that was initially focused on books about race and racism has dramatically expanded to stomp out any acknowledgement that LGBTQ people even exist. The most prominent of these efforts is the banally named “Parental Rights in Education” bill in Florida, which Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is attempting to fast track.
Redubbed by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which is certainly more accurate, one of the legislation’s major provisions is a ban on “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity,” as well as language clearly meant to force educators to report any kids suspected of being LGBTQ to their parents. Censoring any mention of LGBTQ people or outing kids to abusive parents is reason enough to oppose this bill. But, as hard as it may be to believe, there’s an even more sinister agenda behind this bill and many others like it.
These bills are modeled on the backdoor mechanism that Republicans used to ban abortion in Texas, by creating a “bounty hunter” system that allows right wing busybodies to sue anyone who is suspected of providing or even just helping a patient get an abortion. And just as the lawsuit strategy helped the far-right achieve the dream of eliminating legal abortion in Texas, it could be used to achieve their even more secretive desire to end public schooling as we know it.
