Disney vs democracy

This is the case of the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, and his strangely notorious House Bill 1557. I say strangely notorious because I cannot for the life of me understand why there was so much fuss and fury about this bill that was signed into law last week. Its opponents called it the ‘Don’t Say Gay Bill’ (which is apt, in a way, given it doesn’t mention the word ‘gay’ once). They claim it’s a rotten homophobic and transphobic law that will make life even tougher for sexually confused youths in Florida. It might even ‘erase’ them. Wow. What does the law propose? Banning trans people from public spaces? Outlawing gay sex? Nope. It simply says there should be no ‘classroom instruction’ on issues of ‘sexual orientation or gender identity’ for schoolkids under the age of 10.

That’s it. I would wager that large majorities of people agree that kids aged six and seven should not be given instruction – ‘detailed information about how something should be done or operated’, according to my dictionary – on sexual matters. I certainly do. Hyper-woke parents might want their offspring to be schooled on the 72 genders and to pledge allegiance to the trans flag rather than the Stars and Stripes, but most mums and dads would rather their kids did maths, English and gym than gay sex, genderfluidity and pup play. And the new law does not forbid teachers from saying ‘gay’. Those things can still be discussed, so long as it’s done in an ‘age-appropriate’ way, the law says. I’m sorry, but the identitarians raging against this law are in effect insisting that teachers should have the right to instruct seven-year-olds on sex and gender-fluidity even if it’s not appropriate. Which, to be charitable, is iffy as hell.