Don2 (Don1 Revised)
Contributor
IMHO, the conservatives want to make this an election issue by poisoning the well...basically, "Look, the Democrat Party wants to sexualize little children!!1111one!1"
While that's just my opinion due to the timing, disingenuous claims, and so forth, let's look more technically at this new draconian bill. Here is an article from NPR:
Sounds too broad which is one of my main complaints with other draconian legislation that conservatives have been passing.
Of course it also has a tricky name: Stop the Sexualization of Children Act
Take a look at this section:
"...or any topic involving...sexual orientation...or related subjects." Heterosexual is a sexual orientation, but they don't mean that. Sexual orientation is code for gay. So think back to Moms for Liberty objections and banning books. One thing they were screaming about was the possibility of a child seeing gay parents in a children's book. Gay parents exist (so do trans people by the way)...so essentially this forces children to not see the reality of the world by only seeing heterosexual "normal" people because conservatives want to control their kids into always being straight, conservative, and following their religion.
Also previous section: "A parent legal guardian of a child may bring a civil action of injunctive relief..."
In other words, any extremist parent who becomes aware of a book that a 9 year old could access in a school library or whatever where there are some gay parents can sue the school.
The bill itself also has some extremist examples, like drag queen story hour and burlesque shows that are meant to be shocking so that moderate thinking people might agree with the over-reach of the bill.
To add--some things in the bill are also hard to measure and subjective. For example, what one parent may consider to be lewd or "lascivious dancing" another parent may consider not to be so. The most extreme parent can sue, though, even if the vast majority think the dancing is a nothing burger.
Lastly, if such bill were to pass (it won't), we'd likely see over reactions from schools again in order to avoid lawsuits from the most extreme conservative Qarens, like Moms for Liberty. So there's also a practical reality of how this extremism can infect freedom in schools.
While that's just my opinion due to the timing, disingenuous claims, and so forth, let's look more technically at this new draconian bill. Here is an article from NPR:
What's in the so-called Don't Say Gay bill that could impact the whole country
House Republicans have introduced legislation that some critics are describing as a national "Don't Say Gay" bill – inspired by the controversial Florida law that bans instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade classes.
If the federal bill were to become law, which is unlikely in the current Congress, its effects could be far more sweeping, affecting not just instruction in schools, but also events and literature at any federally-funded institution.
Sounds too broad which is one of my main complaints with other draconian legislation that conservatives have been passing.
Of course it also has a tricky name: Stop the Sexualization of Children Act
Take a look at this section:
SEXUALLY-ORIENTED MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘sexually-oriented material’’ means any depiction, description, or simulation of sexual activity, any lewd or lascivious depiction or description of human genitals, or any topic involving gender identity, gender dysphoria, transgenderism, sexual orientation, or related subjects.
"...or any topic involving...sexual orientation...or related subjects." Heterosexual is a sexual orientation, but they don't mean that. Sexual orientation is code for gay. So think back to Moms for Liberty objections and banning books. One thing they were screaming about was the possibility of a child seeing gay parents in a children's book. Gay parents exist (so do trans people by the way)...so essentially this forces children to not see the reality of the world by only seeing heterosexual "normal" people because conservatives want to control their kids into always being straight, conservative, and following their religion.
Also previous section: "A parent legal guardian of a child may bring a civil action of injunctive relief..."
In other words, any extremist parent who becomes aware of a book that a 9 year old could access in a school library or whatever where there are some gay parents can sue the school.
The bill itself also has some extremist examples, like drag queen story hour and burlesque shows that are meant to be shocking so that moderate thinking people might agree with the over-reach of the bill.
To add--some things in the bill are also hard to measure and subjective. For example, what one parent may consider to be lewd or "lascivious dancing" another parent may consider not to be so. The most extreme parent can sue, though, even if the vast majority think the dancing is a nothing burger.
Lastly, if such bill were to pass (it won't), we'd likely see over reactions from schools again in order to avoid lawsuits from the most extreme conservative Qarens, like Moms for Liberty. So there's also a practical reality of how this extremism can infect freedom in schools.