Some Sanity

Seems like a pretty big victory against America's greatest governor, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

But on 11 March, a settlement between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys challenged the state law. The settlement clarified that the law does not prohibit the discussion of LGBTQ+ people, or prevent anti-bullying rules based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It also does not disallow Gay-Straight Alliance groups in schools.

The law also does not affect library books not being used for instruction in the classroom. But for books with incidental references to LGBTQ+ characters or same-sex couples, it was ruled in the settlement that “they are not instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity any more than a math problem asking students to add bushels of apples is instruction on apple farming”.

Previously, many LGBTQ+ and civil rights groups have pointed out the legislation is extremely vague, meaning many teachers could become cautious even mentioning they have a same-sex partner or having a rainbow sticker in their classroom, for fear of being sued by parents or losing their job.

Had some pissed off comments for all the people who expressed little concern about this bigotry, but I'll save those for another day.