Lawmakers within the Florida House are considering a law that will ban elementary school classrooms from talking about menstrual cycles, sexually transmitted diseases and other sexuality topics.
The bill, spearheaded by Republican Rep. Stan McClain, would limit classroom discussions about human sexuality and related topics, including menstrual cycles, to students in grades sixth through twelfth.
“So if little girls experience their menstrual cycle in fifth grade or 4th grade, will that prohibit conversations from them since they’re within the grade lower than sixth grade?” asked state Democratic Rep. Ashley Gantt, who noted girls as young as 10 can begin having periods.
“It might,” McClain, the bill’s sponsor, replied to the previous public school teacher.
The laws, backed by Republicans, made it through the House Education Quality Subcommittee last Wednesday by a 13-5 vote mostly amongst party lines.
Parents would even have the ability to object to books and materials at their children’s schools and schools could be mandated to show an individual’s sexual identity is set biologically at birth under the proposed laws.
The state Department of Education would have the opportunity to scrutinize certain education materials, in response to the bill.
McClain said the bill’s purpose is to bring uniformed sex education across all of Florida’s 67 school districts and provides parents a stronger ability to object to books and other materials they think is likely to be inappropriate for younger kids.
Gantt, in the course of the committee meeting, asked if teachers could possibly be punished in the event that they speak about menstruation with younger students.
“My concern is that they won’t feel secure to have those conversations with these little girls,” she said.
McClain insisted “that will not be the intent” of the bill and he’s “amenable” to some changes in its language.
The proposal must clear one other committee before it reaches the House floor for a final vote. The same bill is pending within the Senate.
With Post wires
