According to the far-right organization Moms for Liberty, teachers in Palm Beach County, Florida have allegedly decided to take Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law literally.
The conservative group has claimed that teachers are refusing to use all forms of gendered language in their classrooms, including terms for straight, cisgender people, rather than only excluding LGBTQ+ content, as intended by the law.
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“Attention Parents! 
,” Moms for Liberty tweeted. “A teacher in Palm Beach County, FL shared this template with us. It is being shared among teachers to use for grades K-3. How do you feel about this? What will you do when this arrives home in your child’s backpack?”
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They ended by saying, “Time to take a Stand.”
Attention Parents!
A teacher in Palm Beach County, FL shared this template with us. It is being shared among teachers to use for grades K-3.
How do you feel about this? What will you do when this arrives home in your child’s backpack?
Time to take a Stand. pic.twitter.com/Zo39SrxoJc
— Moms for Liberty (@Moms4Liberty) April 1, 2022
Florida’s H.B. 1557, commonly known as the Don’t Say Gay bill, was signed into law last week by Governor Ron DeSantis.
The bill prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-3, and additionally requires the subjects to be discussed in “developmentally appropriate” ways at the higher grade levels. The law also allows parents to sue school districts for breaking this law.
While those who support the bill have implied that it is exclusively to be used in reference to LGBTQ+ people, nothing in the law’s language actually limits the discussion to the LGBTQ+ community. Rather, it uses vague terminology, which some teachers and parents are allegedly taking at face value.
The template letter hasn’t been confirmed as legitimate according to LGBTQ Nation.
In it, the anonymous teacher allegedly wrote, “To be in accordance with this policy, I will no longer be referring to your student with gendered pronouns. All students will be referred to as ‘they’ or ‘them.’ I will no longer use a gendered title such as ‘Mr.’ or ‘Mrs.’ or make any references to husband/wife in the classroom. From now on I will be using the non-gendered title ‘Mx.’”
The letter went on to say that books with gender and sexual identity terms would also be removed from the teacher’s classroom, including those “which refer to a person being a ‘mother,’ ‘father,’ ‘husband’ or ‘wife’ […] Needless to say, all books witch refer to a character as ‘he’ or ‘she’ will also be removed form the classroom.”
“If you have any concerns about this policy, please feel free to contact your local congressperson,” the alleged form letter concluded.
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Reactions to the Moms for Liberty post have been filled with sarcasm and amusement for conservatives reaping what they sowed.
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Makes sense for teachers to follow the law as you all wrote it.
— Amie King (@MileHiCityGal) April 1, 2022
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*First Published: April 4, 2022, 7:10 am
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