In Florida there was a new bill passed by the Florida senate. The bill proposed would  prevent grade school teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity. This bill would only apply to grades kindergarten to grade three. This bill was advocated for by Republicans in Florida. The current bill is facing trouble from a couple of places. The first trouble it has comes from a legal standpoint. This reason is because of the wording of the content included inside of the bill. The content inside of the bill can be interpreted as ambiguous which is not ideal for a bill being proposed. In addition, the bill has faced a pretty notable resistance from many different facets of peoples in our society. The largest of these groups that are protesting this bill is the LGBTQ+ community which is protesting it for obvious reasons. One argument the LGBTQ+ is using is that the bill is targeting LGBTQ+ youth, and the supporters of the bill have refuted this by saying how they believe it is the parents or guardians responsibility if they want to teach their kids about that kind of content before fourth grade. There are many other arguments going for and against the bill by many other groups of people as well.

Now, I would like to present the reactions to the bill that have been happening in Florida and other parts of the country. To start, one of the biggest reactions of the bill actually comes from Disney World, the happiest place of Earth. To give some context to why Disney World workers of all people are protesting the bill is that the current CEO of Disney (Robert Chapek) has not responded to the bill or listed any public critiques of the bill. The reason this is a problem is because a large chunk of Disney imaginers and other Disney workers has expressed a vast and descriptive dislike of the bill, and the workers have been pressuring Robert Chapek to make a public statement critiquing the bill. Nothing has occurred yet of Robert Chapek’s public opinion of the bill, but there has been a visible up cry coming from the workers who disapprove. The way these workers are using their resources to make their opinion known is a simple way, the disapproving workers are planning to publicly protesting during their breaks. The workers are going to be doing walkouts everyday during their breaks, and this is going to be happening in Florida, California, and other Disney owned properties. A reason why there is demands that Robert Chapek say something about the bill publicly is that Disney often gives money to various political parties and politicians. Robert Chapek has publicly stated his and Disney’s support for their LGBTQ+ employees, but Robert still has not made a statement concerning the bill. There is currently news that behind the scenes people from the Disney company are communicating with politicians to try and come to some sort of a compromise concerning the bill. Nothing about that has been made public yet however. In addition, ESPN held a two minutes of silence after the first half of a basket ball game to protest the bill. While these protests in Disney serve to protest how Robert Chapek is not doing anything publicly about the bill these protests also serve to protest the Florida senators and the bill itself. In that realm of politics the governor of Florida (Ron DeSantis) has brushed off the protests from Disney by calling them a woke company. Disney is not the only people protesting about the bill however.

Various students from various schools across Florida and some other states have been having walkouts to protest the bill. In addition to people critiquing the bill, various late night talk show hosts have gave their two cents about the bill and why they disapprove of it. Various pieces of media have expressed their dislike of the bill and provided their reasons on why it should not be passed. One of the biggest groups of people protesting this is people in their late teens to thirty year old highschool and college people. All of this protesting however is not really slowing the bill, but it is helping to spread awareness about the bill to people who would have not known about it otherwise. President Joe Biden has made comments about the bill showing his disapproval of it, and naturally many democratic senators have shown their disapproval of the bill and stated their comments about the bill and why it should not be signed and passed. Hypothetically, if the bill were to be passed it would only affect the elementary schools inside of Florida. The passing of this bill could pave the way for other similar bills to be passed in other states.

This bill is a classic example of a clash of beliefs concerning the differences of the Republicans and Democrats. both sides are showing their support for their reasons and their criticisms of the the other sides arguments. Of course, you do not have to be a Republican to support the bill or a Democrat to critique the bill even though that is the most common view on this situation. The big question is not will this bill be signed or not, but it is what will the reaction to this bill be if it does or does not get passed. The bill has already been swarmed in controversy and will only grow from here. Will society support or reject the bill if it is passed or rejected, and what kind of bills will be proposed after this bill has seen light in the public’s eye?

Sources:

https://apnews.com/article/dont-say-gay-bill-passes-florida-legislature-b173917e985833963e45a8d0464a4399

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/17/disney-creative-leaders-express-frustration-to-ceo-chapek-over-dont-say-gay-bill-response.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/dont-say-gay-bill-florida-senate-passes-controversial-lgbtq-school-mea-rcna19133

https://apnews.com/article/business-lifestyle-arts-and-entertainment-florida-orlando-6d1a546e8900f0d712a1b72e8d5213a1