Many readers contacted The Fact Checker after Jean-Pierre, at the White House lectern, lambasted an expansion of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, popularly known among critics as the “don’t say gay” law. When Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law last year, it prohibited instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation for students up through the third grade. That changed earlier this month, when his administration decided to impose such restrictions on all public school students, including fourth through 12th grades, with certain exceptions.
What’s in dispute is Jean-Pierre’s claim that under the law, gay teachers have been forced to take down pictures of their spouses or loved ones. Many readers believed that to be incorrect.
It’s a complicated issue, so let’s dig in.
To back up the statement, a White House official directed us to a June 30 NBC News report that said, “Representatives of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association accused school officials Monday of verbally warning educators not to wear rainbow articles of clothing and to remove pictures of their same-sex spouses from their desks and LGBTQ safe space stickers from classroom doors.” The accusation was based on a tweet by Clinton McCracken, president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association.
But the information was out of date. Almost as soon as the report aired, Orange County Public Schools provided a clarification to the union: “All teachers are encouraged to keep pictures of their families in the classroom. However, in K-3, it was cautioned against specific discussions in the event those discussions could be deemed classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity.”
McCracken, in a telephone interview, said the confusion arose after the county held workshops on the law and a question about portraits was raised as a hypothetical.
“There was guidance that clarified that this was not the case,” he said. “But the damage was done. Even to this day, there are teachers who are afraid to display photos of their same-sex spouses. Teachers have self-censored themselves and it continues to this day.”
McCracken complained about “a massive lack of clarity from the state” about how the rules should be implemented.
Brandon Wolf, press secretary for Equality Florida, an LGBTQ rights organization that sued the state over the law, provided links to several articles about teachers expressing confusion over what may or may not be permitted under the law. The White House supplied similar articles.
The law states that “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” But in the specific case of family portraits, the state, in a legal filing opposing Equality Florida’s lawsuit, said there was no ban because they are unrelated to classroom instruction.
“There is no merit, for example, to the suggestion that the statute restricts gay and transgender teachers from ‘put[ting] a family photo on their desk’ or ‘refer[ring] to themselves and their spouse (and their own children),’” the filing said. “Those actions are not ‘instruction,’ which is ‘the action, practice, or profession of teaching.’”
“The Florida Department of Education does not have to put out guidance to dispute lies from the White House press podium or activist teachers’ unions,” said DeSantis spokesman Jeremy T. Redfern. “The state’s position is clear in the legal filing you referenced.”
Equality Florida connected The Fact Checker with teachers who said that they had been the subject of scrutiny because of parent complaints that they had overstepped the boundary of the law.
Gracie Lindquist, a 22-year-old teacher at Sabal Palm Elementary School in Leon County, said she has a photo of her girlfriend on her phone’s homescreen. A couple of weeks ago, she said, an assistant principal came into her third-grade class and in front of her students said that a parent “had complained that I showed photos of my ‘lesbian friend’ — his words, not mine.” She said he asked that she not let students see her homescreen. She refused.
“I have mentioned my partner to my students,” Lindquist said. “I am the only openly queer person at the elementary school. I am not going to hide that.”
She noted that other teachers have photos of families up on the walls of their classrooms and she doesn’t even do that. “Everything that is being done is pretty low-board,” she said. “They can’t point to a policy. They can’t give me an official statement and they can’t point to a rule. They just don’t want parents to be upset. Nothing that I’m doing is wrong or inappropriate.”
In a phone call seeking his version of events, the assistant principal denied Lindquist’s account before abruptly ending the call. In an email, Principal Shannon Davis said: “The core issue of the parent complaint was ensuring that instructional time was being used on teaching mathematics.”
Adarius Payne, a seventh-grade teacher in Wesley Chapel, said he had to undergo a week-long investigation after a parent complained that his gay relationship came up during a math problem that involved a question about children.
One student asked Payne, 37, if he had any children. Another student interrupted, referencing photos of Payne’s partner on the wall and suggesting it was impossible because he was gay. Payne said he responded: “It’s natural for couples to want to have children. Everyone is entitled to have a kid. They can adopt or have biological children.”
Payne was not disciplined, but he said the experience was stressful. After the investigation was complete, he was instructed to ignore personal questions and instead move on with the lesson.
Kelly Scully, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement: “If Governor DeSantis’s position is now that students and teachers are not banned from discussing gender or sexual orientation, and can talk about and display photos of their spouses and loved ones without fear of retaliation, we would welcome that clarification. The law continues to cause confusion, fear, and censorship.”
Notably, the statement does not reiterate that the law prevents teachers from displaying photos of same-sex relationships.
Jean-Pierre erred by flatly saying that the law — “under threat of losing their licenses” — forces teachers to remove photos that indicate they have same-sex partners. Florida, in fact, denied that was the case in a legal filing nearly a year ago.
The White House press secretary would have been on more solid ground if she had emphasized that some teachers have said the law has had a chilling effect and that they have taken down photos to avoid getting into trouble. Lindquist and Payne recounted how a photo of their loved one prompted a question from curious students — typical of the give-and-take in classroom instruction — which eventually led to parental complaints. So while the photo itself may be permitted under the law, the teacher got into trouble because a photo was seen by students, prompting a discussion that briefly touched on same-sex relationships.
The state, in a legal filing, said it does not ban photos, and a county that suggested a ban was in place quickly reversed itself. That would indicate at least Three Pinocchios. At the same time, the practical effect of the law appears to discourage teachers from displaying photos of loved ones, given the hassles encountered by Lindquist and Payne. That tips us toward Two.
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