The Biden administration is once again showing its authoritarian impulses. This time, it’s over parents’ rights to control and monitor their children’s education.
On Tuesday, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona threatened Florida with supposed civil rights legal actions after the Legislature passed the Parental Rights in Education bill.
Cardona said the proposal, which awaits Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature, is “targeting vulnerable gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex children,” according to Breitbart News.
“Parents across the country are looking to national, state, and district leaders to support our nation’s students, help them recover from the pandemic, and provide them the academic and mental health supports they need. Instead, leaders in Florida are prioritizing hateful bills that hurt some of the students most in need,” Cardona said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The Department of Education has made clear that all schools receiving federal funding must follow federal civil rights law, including Title IX’s protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We stand with our LGBTQ+ students in Florida and across the country, and urge Florida leaders to make sure all their students are protected and supported.”
Cardona did not explain exactly how the Parental Rights in Education bill supposedly discriminates against children.
He also did not explain exactly what legal action he would take if the bill becomes law.
Moreover, as The Free Press has noted in the past of the bill’s other critics, he did not specify why teachers in grades kindergarten through 3, as identified in the bill, should be permitted or encouraged to share details of their sex lives or those of other adults with “children that are learning how to color inside the lines,” as Republican Rep. Kaylee Tuck of Lake Placid said recently.
Christina Pushaw, Gov. Ron Desantis’ spokeswoman, also made that point in answering critics who denounced her for calling the measure an “anti-grooming bill.”
“I do not see any good reason for anyone, regardless of orientation or identity, to condone instruction about sex and gender theory to VPK-3rd graders,” Pushaw tweeted from her personal Twitter account.
Liberals have been enraged over one sentence in the bill, which they refer to as “Don’t Say Gay,” and have continued to mislead the public about its actual text or effect.
That controversial provision, at least for liberals, says school districts “may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The bill says nothing about not saying “gay.” Nor does it preclude children in these situations from seeking counseling from a teacher or other faculty member, or any other adult for that matter, if they believe these issues affect them.
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