Businesses oppose Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill banning talk of

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed legislation banning the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in the state’s public schools, a controversial policy that opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. 

The Walt Disney Company immediately condemned the legislation and vowed to help get it repealed. Opposition among business leaders has been slowly building momentum this month as it moved through Florida’s Republican-controlled Senate. Starbucks, Nordstrom and Pinterest are among 45 companies that quietly signed earlier this month on to a two-year -old petition broadly condemning anti-LGTBQ legislation.

The newest signatories include retail companies Target, Mattel and Lululemon, according to the latest version of the petition, which has more than 200 signatures. Sony Interactive Entertainment, Deutsche Bank USA, Hyatt Group Hotels & Resort, Yahoo! and Shutterstock also added their names in recent weeks. 

The Florida measure rocketed to the forefront of national politics in recent months, drawing sharp criticism from the LGBTQ community, Hollywood, Democrats and the White House. Its passage comes as a flurry of anti-LGBTQ bills advance in several states, leaving advocates fearful that already marginalized groups are at risk of harm. 

DeSantis said he backed the bill because parents’ rights are “increasingly under assault around the nation, but in Florida we stand up for the rights of parents and the fundamental role they play in the education of their children.”

He said parents also “should be protected from schools using classroom instruction to sexualize their kids as young as 5-years-old,” according to a statement released by his office.

Formally titled the “Parental Rights in Education” bill, the new law takes effect in July. It prohibits classroom “discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through grade three or “in a manner that is not age-appropriate.”

The bill also gives parents the right to pursue legal action if they believe a school’s procedures are infringing on their “fundamental right” to make decisions related to the “upbringing and control of their children.”

DeSantis, the bill’s sponsors and other Republicans have stressed that the measure is necessary to give parents oversight over what students learn and discuss at school, calling it “inappropriate to be injecting those matters like transgenderism in a kindergarten classroom.”

But opponents have argued that the Florida bill is vaguely worded and that it could give way to lawsuits from parents who believe any…