White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday knocked Fox News reporter Peter Doocy down—again—when she asked him if he could name a sex education program in a Florida kindergarten that violates the new “Don’t Say Gay” law of the United States. the state would justify.
Doocy had urged Psaki to oppose the Biden administration’s highly controversial law, which bans discussion of gender identification and sexual orientation in classrooms from kindergarten to third grade.
In a curious question, Doocy asked, “Does the White House support that kind of classroom education? before kindergarten?”
Psaki replied, “Do you have examples of schools in Florida teaching preschoolers about sex education?”
“I’m just asking for the president’s opinion…” Doocy began to respond.
Psaki: “I think that’s a pertinent question” because the law is nothing more than a “politically charged, harsh law that puts parents and LGBTQ+ children in a very difficult, heartbreaking circumstance.”
She said the White House believes the law reflects “Florida politicians promoting misinformed, hateful policies that do absolutely nothing to address the real problems.”
Psaki responded that the US Department of Education is considering next steps, including possible action against the measure for violating federal civil rights law.
Several LGBTQ advocacy groups and families filed joint federal lawsuits Thursday against the law, arguing it is unconstitutional and already harms children and families.
But the law could be much more universal than many initially thought.
Florida law does not, in fact, mention the word “gay” in the text in a feeble attempt to circumvent the Constitution. And since it now prohibits addressing issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation in the lower classes, the law could be construed convincingly as applying to all sexual orientation and genders.
A satirical letter circulating among Florida teachers suggests that we now refer to all students as “she” and “she” to avoid risky “gender pronouns” such as “he” and “she”. Also “Mr.” and “ma’am.” according to the letter should be abolished for teachers.
Twitter wags responding to the letter also raised other issues: Should the words “boys” and “girls” be removed from school bathrooms? What happens to “female” and “male” sports teams? “If Heather Has Two Mommies” can’t be read in class, then books like “Fun with Dick and Jane” (and their presumably heterosexual parents) should also be banned, critics say.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
