The sociopathic parts loud
Because the anti-LGBTQ+ moral panic doesn’t have public opinion on its side, the strategy of the public officials making it material is to lie and downplay the effects of what they’re doing:
The law, as you’re probably heard by now, establishes new rules for Florida public schools. The purpose ― in the statute’s own words ― is “prohibiting classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels or in a specified manner.” That includes a prohibition on any instruction on orientation or identity, “in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.”
(The “or” is important because that means it affects all grades, not just kindergarten through 3.)
The law also requires schools to inform parents of changes to student “mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being.” If parents believe schools or school employees have violated any of the law’s terms, and if the district doesn’t address those concerns, parents can sue the schools.
The law is part of a broader assault on LGBTQ rights and equality, although DeSantis and his supporters in politics and conservative media bristle at the suggestion. To hear them tell it, this is all just common sense rule-making designed to make sure parents know what’s going on with their kids during the school day ― and to protect kids from sexualization at very young ages.
They also keep reminding everybody that the statute doesn’t include the word “gay.”
But it’s difficult to take all of their protestations seriously when officials like DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw describe the law as an “anti-grooming” measure — as in, a law designed to stop LGBTQ teachers from “recruiting” students or priming them for sexual abuse.
But the Intellectual Dork Web is completely open about what these laws are about:
So Andrew Sullivan just tweeted out this thread, which is absolutely James Lindsay level of insane, as the responsible conservative alternative to accusing teachers of being pedophiles. pic.twitter.com/DQPdu1TvWi— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) March 31, 2022
Ah yes, the kind of “libertarian” who sees teachers treating queer and/or trans kids with dignity as overweening state coercion but statutes restricting their speech and allowing people to sue them for doing so as freedom pic.twitter.com/bV9aHs0b8Z— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) March 31, 2022
It’s not news that “it’s an affirmative good when parents teach queer and/or trans kids to hate themselves and nobody at the school they attend should be able to help them” is the core motivation behind DeSantis’s cancel culture, but it’s still kind of amazing to see someone just go ahead an tweet it out.