DeSantis thanks Florida legislature for protecting kids from groomer teachers

In an address given on Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis thanked the Florida legislature for passing the Parental Rights in Education bill.

"As the parent of three kids that are age 5 and under, thank you for letting me and my wife be able to send our kids to kindergarten, without them being sexualized," DeSantis said.

The bill encompasses a number of issues, including prohibiting schools from withholding information regarding a student’s mental, emotional, or physical well-being, and required procedures to be put in place to "reinforce fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding upbringing & control of their children."

In addition, a contentious point amongst democrats, the bill prohibits teaching students in kindergarten through third grade about sexual orientation or gender identity.

It also bans teaching the subjects in a way that are not "age appropriate or developmentally appropriate."

This point has made many on the left refer to the bill as the "Don’t Say Gay" bill, though nowhere in the bill's text does this phrase or similar ones appear.

The Biden administration's Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona called the bill "hateful" and warned the state about federal funding if the bill supposedly violates federal civil rights law.

"The Department of Education has made clear that all schools receiving federal funding must follow federal civil rights law, including Title IX's protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. We stand with our LGBTQ+ students in Florida and across the country, and urge Florida leaders to make sure all their students are protected and supported," Cardona said.

A Daily Wire poll released earlier this week found that more than 6 in 10 Americans, 64 percent, support the bill, with only 21 percent saying they oppose. 9 percent of Republicans, 62 percent of Democrats, and 57 percent of independents back the Florida measure.