Florida Republicans Advance Bill That Would Ban Pride Flag In Classrooms

On Jan 18, 2024

Florida Republicans superior a brand new House invoice on Wednesday that might ban academics and authorities officers from displaying delight flags and those who champion the Black Lives Matter motion.

The invoice, HB 901, would bar the show of any flag that represents a “political viewpoint, including, but not limited to, a politically partisan, racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint.” State Rep. David Borrero (R), the invoice’s co-sponsor, rejected calls the laws was homophobic and hateful, telling the Associated Press it was meant to guard children from radicalization.

“Public classrooms should not be the place where our kids go to be radicalized and evangelized into accepting these partisan, radical ideologies,” Borrero instructed the outlet. “It’s wholly inappropriate to be putting those types of flags in front of public school students and in government buildings.”

He went on to say the invoice’s language would permit flags of sovereign states acknowledged by the United States to be displayed. But the flag of Palestine, which isn’t acknowledged by the U.S., wouldn’t be allowed, he instructed the AP. Teachers would additionally not even be allowed to put on a lapel pin bearing such flags.

Students wouldn’t be included within the ban.

A rainbow LGBTQ+ pride flag hangs outside a business down the block from the Wilton Manors city hall, which sometimes flies a rainbow flag from its facade.A bill moving forward in the Florida State House would ban the display of any flag deemed political in government buildings. The legislation is seen as another anti-LGBTQ+ bill in a state that has passed several under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. — A rainbow LGBTQ+ delight flag hangs exterior a enterprise down the block from the Wilton Manors metropolis corridor, which generally flies a rainbow flag from its facade.A invoice transferring ahead within the Florida State House would ban the show of any flag deemed political in authorities buildings. The laws is seen as one other anti-LGBTQ+ invoice in a state that has handed a number of beneath Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Democrats and human rights teams instantly blasted the proposal as one other assault towards the state’s queer group.

“Are we in Russia? Are we in Cuba? That’s authoritarianism. That’s fascism at it’s best,” state Sen. Shevrin Jones (D), who’s Black and homosexual, instructed the AP. “How I was raised, the rainbow meant hope. … I can promise you it wasn’t that that made me gay.”

State Rep. Dotie Joseph, a Democrat from Miami Beach, mentioned the invoice “validates hate.”

“The problem with this bill is, in addition to the constitutional issues, that it fosters the same kind of intolerance that breeds the violence that makes our communities unsafe,” Joseph instructed the Tampa Bay Times. “And how it does that is by, instead of fostering tolerance, we focus on intolerance for culture wars.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has championed his struggle towards “wokeness” by the passage and enlargement of the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” invoice. That regulation bars academics in lots of school rooms from dialogue sexual orientation or gender id. Republicans have additionally focused drag queens and handed laws to restrict transgender younger folks’s entry to gender-affirming medical care.

The invoice should be permitted by the Florida House’s State Affairs Committee, per the Tampa Bay Times. If it secures that approval it will go to the total chamber for a vote. It’s unclear if DeSantis would signal it.