ORLANDO, Florida (AP) — The second lawsuit in about a month has brought Florida’s so-called ‘Don’t Say You’re Gay’ Bill Restrictions on education about gender identity and sexual orientation in schools have been overruled by federal judges.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Wendy Berger in Orlando dismissed lawsuits filed by LGBTQ students, parents and their families, and several civil rights groups, and issued a preliminary injunction to stay the law enforcement. declined the request. The judge ordered that the plaintiffs have until November 3 to file an amended action if they wished.
The Orlando lawsuit named as defendants several Florida school boards that implemented laws banning classes on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, as well as materials deemed age-appropriate. was mentioned. The lawsuit alleges that the law violated the plaintiff’s constitutional rights by restricting her ability to speak about her LGBTQ family at school.The judge disagreed.
“Plaintiffs lead any reasonable person to believe that the law prohibits students from discussing family and vacations at school or even school assignments, or prohibits parents from attending school functions. We haven’t directed the court to facts like: wear a ‘pride’ t-shirt or generally discuss family composition in front of other people,” said former presidential nominee Donald Trump. Berger writes.
The judge expressed sympathy in response to parents of plaintiffs, non-binary middle school students, who feared the law would encourage bullying. It’s just a reality to face criticism and harsh judgments from
“In fact, middle school students bully and disrespect classmates for a variety of reasons, all of which are unacceptable and many of which have nothing to do with the gender identity of their classmates,” the judge wrote. I’m here.
About a month ago, a federal judge in Tallahassee dismissed a similar challenge to the law. In both cases, the judges questioned the plaintiffs’ legal positions, saying they were unable to specifically identify how the law harmed them.
a report The Human Rights Campaign, one of the largest LGBTQ advocacy groups in the United States, and the Center for Countering Digital Hate released a bill in August that showed gays, lesbians and other Hateful references to LGBTQ people surged online. defended Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
A civil rights group that helped the family file a lawsuit called the judge’s decision “wrong” and said the fight against the law was not over.
“Students and families at the center of this lawsuit have experienced more bullying than ever in the months since the law came into force, but the courts have taken their experiences of bullying as a ‘fact of life.’ We declined,” said Kell. Olson, a staff attorney at Lambda Legal, a civil rights group focused on LGBTQ rights, said, “The court’s decision protects student speech and protects students from bullying and harassment aimed at them. It defies decades of precedent that established the constitutional mandate of schools.”
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