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Florida Gov. DeSantis signed HB 1557 barring K-3 LGBTQ instruction and mandating parental notification enabling forced outing

On March 28, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1557, "Parental Rights in Education," barring classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and requiring schools to notify parents of changes to a student's mental, emotional, or physical wellbeing while barring procedures that would let a student withhold that information from a parent. Critics said the notification mandate risks forcing schools to out LGBTQ+ students to parents without consent, and the law became widely known as the "Don't Say Gay" law.

Jurisdiction
Florida
Location
Spring Hill, Florida

Abuses documented

Actors

On March 28, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed CS/CS/HB 1557, "Parental Rights in Education" (Chapter 2022-22), at a bill-signing event in Spring Hill, Florida. The law prohibits classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, or in a manner not age- or developmentally appropriate for students in other grades, and requires school districts to adopt procedures for notifying parents of specified information about a student's mental, emotional, or physical wellbeing, while barring personnel from adopting procedures that would let a student withhold that information from a parent.

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and other critics said the notification mandate risks forcing schools to out LGBTQ+ students to parents without the student's consent, and the law became widely known by critics' shorthand as the "Don't Say Gay" law. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Joe Harding and Rep. Erin Grall in the House and Sen. Dennis Baxley in the Senate. The law was later expanded by HB 1069 (2023).

Updates

2024-03-11 — Parties settled Equality Florida's challenge to HB 1557 [5]

Florida officials and the plaintiffs, including Equality Florida, settled the federal lawsuit challenging HB 1557, agreeing the law does not bar classroom discussion of LGBTQ people or topics, does not prohibit teachers from mentioning their own same-sex spouses or families, and does not restrict students from discussing their own sexual orientation or gender identity — while leaving the K-3 instruction restrictions and parental-notification provisions in place.

Why we recorded this

Equal protection and privacy: government policy that singles out LGBTQ identity for restriction and disclosure. HB 1557 barred classroom discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity for the youngest students and required schools to notify parents of a child's wellbeing information while barring procedures that would let a student withhold it -- a mechanism critics say forces schools to out LGBTQ children to parents without consent. This archive records when government policy singles out a protected characteristic for restriction and exposes a vulnerable population to disclosure risk it did not choose.

Sources

  1. CS/CS/HB 1557: Parental Rights in Education — The Florida Senate primary accessed July 17, 2026
  2. Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Historic Bill to Protect Parental Rights in Education — Executive Office of the Governor of Florida primary accessed July 17, 2026
  3. Florida's governor signs controversial law opponents dubbed 'Don't Say Gay' — NPR secondary accessed July 17, 2026
  4. Ron DeSantis signs controversial bill called 'Don't Say Gay' — CNN secondary accessed July 17, 2026
  5. Historic Settlement Achieved in Challenge to Florida's "Don't Say Gay or Trans" Law — Equality Florida primary accessed July 17, 2026

See also