Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/flanews/public_html/wp-config.php on line 34
Capitol News Service » Blog Archive » LGBTQ groups Fear Unintended Consequences From the ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’

Welcome to

Capitol News Service

Florida's Best Political Coverage on Television

 


 


 


Recent Posts

RSS Quote of the Day

  • Charles Baudelaire
    "Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation."
  • Wilson Mizner
    "The best way to keep your friends is not to give them away."
  • Benjamin Disraeli
    "Silence is the mother of truth."
  • H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
    "Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness."

LGBTQ groups Fear Unintended Consequences From the ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’

February 17th, 2020 by Jake Stofan

The ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’, passed by a Senate Committee Monday, lists a wide range of rights parents have over their children.

Many like the right to not vaccinate your child, and the right to object to educational materials and courses like sex ed are already in state law.

“The bill is covering rights the parents already have, which is why it’s unnecessary, except for the additional language,” said Lakey Love with the Florida National Organization for Women.

But LGBTQ groups protested the bill ahead of the hearing, arguing its language is overly broad.

“It’s a broad requirement for schools to disclose all records relating to the student and there’s no balancing there,” said Jon Harris Maurer with Equality Florida.

Their main concern is the bill could lead to school guidance counselors having to disclose students’ sexual orientation or gender identity to their parents.

“This bill takes away the right of queer and trans kids to even have their own personal identification with themselves, the right they have to tell their parents about their queerness and their transness in their way,” said Delilah Pierre with the Florida Coalition for Trans Liberation.

They also fear it would make it easier for parents to object to nearly anything taught in schools.

“Things like civil rights or LGBTQ rights or anything like even history on the Holocaust,” said Maurer.

The bill also specifies a health care practitioner who provides a medical procedure on a minor without written consent of a parent may be fined up to $1,000 and face a year in prison.

Senate sponsor Kelli Stargel said the intent of this bill is clarity, so parents will have a single place in law to see what rights they possess.

“We already have the right to know what’s happening within the course of that day, report cards, progress, disciplinary actions. All this bill is doing is putting it all in one area called ‘Parental Rights’. It’s not changing what we’re currently doing today,” said Stargel. “Parents already have rights, we’re just making sure that they’re being protected, watched and actually followed.”

The bill has just one more committee stop in the Senate and will be heard by its final House committee Tuesday.

Posted in State News | No Comments »

Comments are closed.

copyright © 2016 by Capitol News Service | Powered by Wordpress | Hosted by LyonsHost.com