A Florida Bill Advances Rejecting Personal Pronouns In Schools & Here's How Locals Responded

A new Florida bill could reject students, teachers and staff's use of preferred pronouns in public schools unless it corresponds to the person's sex at birth.

The legislation was introduced by Republican Senator Clay Yarborough, which would also prohibit classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity until ninth grade.

Currently, the "Don't Say Gay" bill, which was passed through Governor Ron Desantis' office in 2021, disallows this notion until third grade, according to the National Education Association.

The more recent proposed bill states that, "materials used to teach reproductive health or any disease as part of certain courses must be approved by the Department of Education."

It's been filed in the Senate and is making its way through committee hearings. On March 21, the bill was made a committee substitute, which means amendments were made to the original filing, by the Education Pre-K-12 Committee.

The Human Rights Campaign posted a clip of Floridian advocates' responses to the latest bill on TikTok.

"There are other pressing issues than pronouns. I mean, come on. Like, be serious," one person said. "There is a housing crisis, climate change, mass shootings, and you're seriously worried about protecting youth from queerness? I have to laugh as a constituent."

The clip shows other members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community speaking out, including a teacher.

"I'm queer. I'm the mom of a trans kid and I'm an elementary school teacher. All this 'LGBTQ-ness' and I'm still not trying to make kids gay. I'm not talking to them about sex, sexual orientation, or even gender identity in any way that would make you cringe. I promise," one teacher said. "I'm teaching kindness, respect and following directions."

The Tampa Bay Times reported that Yarborough's argument for the bill is that there are "[...] 19-24 other kids in the classroom whose parents might not be 'OK' with that [using different pronouns]."

If passed, the bill would go into effect on July 1, 2023.