The war of words over the ‘Don’t say Gay’ bill
by Mary Harrington, UnHerd:
‘Homophobes’ are doing battle with ‘groomers’ in the latest culture war.
Culture wars are fought both linguistically and institutionally. A March bill passed in Florida limits what school teachers are permitted to convey to very young children about sex — and particularly same-sex relations — and it has led to a new war of words, this time between ‘homophobe’ and ‘groomer.’
The bill prohibits discussion of ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity’ in the youngest classes, from kindergarten (UK Reception, age 5) through to grade 3 (UK year 3, or about 7-8 years old), and specifies that subsequent references must be “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards”. It also grants parents the power to sue a school if they believe this isn’t being enforced.
The bill also bans school pastoral teams from withholding information from parents about a pupil’s “mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being”, meaning if a pupil came out as gay or transgender at school, staff would be obliged to inform parents.
It’s been dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by progressives, who argue that it leaves gay or trans schoolchildren at risk of intensified classroom bullying and teachers obliged to ‘out’ kids even to prejudiced or abusive parents.
Condemnatory naming can be powerful, and ‘Don’t Say Gay’ has echoes of the derisive ‘dementia tax’ that Labour used to scupper Theresa May’s short-lived, valiant attempt to grasp the nettle of intergenerational housing justice.
Unlike Theresa May, though, who was hopelessly wrong-footed by this tactic, the Florida bill’s proponents are fighting back linguistically as well as legislatively. Their weapon of choice is the word ‘groomer’, now applied with (sorry) gay abandon to any progressive arguing that teachers should be allowed to talk about sex with children and withhold that information from parents.
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