Under Florida law, public schools are not required to teach students sexual education.
If a school district chooses to, abstinence must be pushed as the expected standard. Schools are prohibited from teaching students about contraception, consent, sexual abuse and violence, as well as LGBTQ+ topics.
Now, Florida Democrats are asking Governor Ron DeSantis and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz to reconsider.
Thursday, seven Democrats in Congress sent a signed letter to DeSantis and Diaz, stating that the “abstinence only” program is ineffective, discriminatory against the LGBTQ+ community, and overall harmful to students.
Diaz, clearly uninterested, took to X. He posted the signed letter on X and captioned it “While Florida is recovering from Hurricane Helene, Congressional Democrats are focused on pushing their sexual ideology on children.”
Of the 7 signees includes representatives Darren Soto and Maxwell Frost of Florida’s 9th and 10th district.
Last year, Orange County opted out of sex education after the state failed to approve the districts plan. It included lessons of contraception and STDs. At least 6 other school districts that submitted their own lessons were ignored by the state as well.
Democrats want to see approval in their lesson plans to teach sexual education topics that are currently deemed obscene.