Equality Florida, the Sunshine State’s top LGBTQ advocacy group, has launched two television ads opposing the proposed “Parental Rights in Education” bill, which critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

The 30-second ads present scenarios about what may happen if the bill is enacted into law.

The first ad features a female student being called upon to read an essay about her hero. She begins by saying, “I have two heroes. My two moms.” A buzzer sounds and a red light turns on, illuminating a sign at the back of the classroom reading “State-approved topics only.”

The teacher pauses, and says, “It’s okay, you should be proud. Go on.” The principal is then heard on the loudspeaker calling the teacher down to the office to discipline her. 

The second ad references Florida’s history of anti-LGBTQ animus, harkening back to the days of singer and activist Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children” campaign which was launched in 1977 to repeal a pro-gay nondiscrimination ordinance in Miami-Dade County.

That campaign not only repealed the ordinance, but led to the defeats of LGBTQ rights measures in other cities across the country. It has been credited with inspiring political organizing by evangelical groups like the Moral Majority, which have since exercised their influence in political battles, particularly Republican primaries where candidates are more likely to kowtow to religious leaders in an effort to demonstrate their conservative bona fides.

The ad then shifts to the present day, including news clips about the bill and its potential effects.

“Florida’s dark anti-LGBTQ history has emerged again. Banning books. Silencing teachers. Legislating our bodies behind closed doors,” a female narrator says.

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Over footage of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), the narrator continues: “He wants more surveillance in every part of our lives. Empowering legislators to police classrooms, doctor’s offices, and the workplace.”

The ad includes a clip of a CNN interview with Chasten Buttigieg, husband of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and a critic of the bill, in which Buttigieg claimed the bill sends a negative message to LGBTQ youth and the children of same-sex parents that “something about [them] is wrong.”

The ad then urges people to get involved to defeat the legislation, as words flash on the screen reading: “Stop the DeSantis censorship and surveillance state agenda.”

“Not since the days of Anita Bryant have we seen such craven attempts by a leader to build political power by targeting and demonizing LGBTQ people,” Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, said in a statement.

“Governor DeSantis is pushing legislation to curb free speech, propagandize school curriculums, and monitor classroom conversations, private workplaces, and doctor’s offices — all in order to outflank Donald Trump to the right and build an onramp to run for President in 2024.

“As a parent of a 10-year-old, these bills fail to protect my child and our family. It is a tool for the state to censor and that encourages lawsuits against schools as a means of intimidation.”

The ads, produced by Equality Florida Action, Inc., are part of a larger campaign to mobilize Florida residents to lobby their legislators to defeat a slate of anti-LGBTQ bills and promote several pro-LGBTQ measures introduced by Democratic allies in the legislature. 

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Equality Florida has previously come out in opposition to the alleged “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and, to a lesser extent, the Stop WOKE Act, a anti-“critical race theory” measure to ban topics or discussions about racism, implicit bias, or sexual harassment if students are made to feel “guilty” or “discomfort” because of a topic broached in class. The Stop WOKE Act also eliminates all references to “gender” by replacing them with “sex” in order to justify sex-segregated spaces, activities, and sports teams in schools — a subtle dig at the transgender community.

Gov. Ron DeSantis recently came out in favor of the bill, saying it was “entirely inappropriate” for teachers to be talking about sexual orientation and gender identity with students. But President Joe Biden has denounced the bill as “hateful” and pledged to “continue to fight” for protections for LGBTQ students.

Under the so-called “parental rights” bill, teachers and school districts are prohibited from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity “in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students,” according to the text of the bill.

The bill, however, fails to define or provide examples of what language or topics are considered “age-appropriate” or “developmentally appropriate.” 

The bill also allows parents to sue school districts if school officials do not consult them regarding “critical decisions affecting a student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being.”

Defenders of the bill say it’s meant to exclusively bar discussions about LGBTQ-related issues in primary grades, well before children are old enough to understand such topics. But critics say that the ambiguous language — and the desire of teachers and administrators to avoid lawsuits from angry parents — will, in practice, lead to prohibitions on free speech for older students in middle and high school.

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LGBTQ advocates are also skeptical of conservatives’ assertions that informal conversations about gender and sexuality will not be prohibited and that students will not be barred from forming school clubs like GSAs.

Even though the bill contains a provision allowing schools to withhold information from parents if a “reasonably prudent person” would determine that disclosing certain information would result in “abuse, abandonment, or neglect,” advocates argue that the bill will lead to outing LGBTQ youth to their parents against their will.

Tim Miller, a former operative who worked for the Republican National Committee, recently penned a column on the bill for The Bulwark, saying he initially thought that critics were exaggerating the bill’s negative consequences until he studied the law himself.

He notes that vagueness and lack of clear definitions for “age-appropriate” topics as a key feature of the bill, which will only lead to costly lawsuits against schools and efforts by administrators to crack down on speech or even student artwork referencing LGBTQ-related issues.

“Let’s say a teacher asked their students to make a Valentine and the sample he gave was the card he made for his husband. Is that a violation?” Miller writes. “Or what if a student asked to draw a picture of their two moms? How about if she wanted to make her Valentine to Mirabel Madrigal. Or Spider-Ham? Or what about a project that asks students to complete a family tree? Could my daughter turn in an assignment featuring her two dads? On the anniversary of the Pulse Shooting in Orlando, could a kid whose uncle died there talk about him in class? Could the school assign the reading of My Tio’s Pulse?

“The answer to these hypotheticals all hinge on whether a crazy-ass parent of another student sees the valentine or family tree or Pulse book and decides to target the school,” he contines. “In each case, the Don’t Say Gay bill would give our Panhandle Karen something to sue over.”

Watch Equality Florida’s ads below.