Florida LGBT+ senator makes tearful plea against ‘Don’t Say Gay’

Attempts to block a proposal to prevent “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” in Florida schools were shot down by Republican legislators as a so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill moves closer to a vote.

Democratic State Rep Carlos Guillermo Smith said that “when you put in statute an unprecedented prohibition … on classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, you’re saying ‘don’t say gay, don’t be gay, don’t teach gay.’”

Such language “is toxic, it’s homophobic, it’s transphobic,” he said during a debate in the House of Representatives.

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