Florida House Bill 1557 and Senate Bill 1834 are making national headlines.

What You Need To Know

  • Florida House Bill 1557 and Senate Bill 1834 are more commonly being known as the 'Don’t Say Gay Bill'

  • The bills have crossed their first hurdles to becoming law

  •  Over 115 physicians from the Committee to Protect Health Care signed a letter opposing this legislation

The bills are more commonly being known as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.”

​On the surface, they’re education bills. Inside, a passage with 31 words are grabbing all the attention, essentially saying discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity cannot be encouraged by a school system.

They’ve crossed their first hurdles to becoming law.

While the governor claims he hasn’t looked at the bills, he agrees with the basic tenets. 

“Look at the end of the day, my goal is to educate kids on the subjects. Math, reading, science, all the things that are so important,” Governor Ron DeSantis said. “I don’t want the schools to kind of be a playground for ideological disputes or to try to inject.”

For students, they spend the majority of their weekdays in one of two places – school and home.

Before many of them can feel comfortable enough to confront or inform their parents on life choices, they get support from friends at school, or advice and counseling from faculty on school campuses.

16-year-old Niko Huddleston says when he was in middle school there were some challenging days.

“I came out to people, and they weren’t supportive, so I went back in the closet, and then I came out like a year after.”

But before coming out to his own parents, he says he had the help of close friends, and a teacher who was open to listening.

“I had this one teacher, that was really supportive,” Huddleston begins to explain. “I knew I could talk to her, so I kind of asked a couple questions.”

Niko soon after came out to his parents, who were supportive and continue to be understanding. But it’s conversations like the one Niko had with his teacher that District 12 State Senator Dennis Baxley wants to see stop.

“We throw every social agenda in their face,” Senator Dennis Baxley said in Tallahassee. “I am relieving them of that, saying this is not your arena. Your arena is the skill set and learnings of this child.”

Niko doesn’t agree.

“I think that that sucks. It is taking our rights away, the first amendment is freedom of speech.”

At his school, Niko is a current member of the Gay Student Alliance.

A club he says students have the freedom to be themselves and talk about any type of topic with no hate.  

It’s a place their discussions on campus should be allowed.

“It’s not a harmful thing,” the 16-year-old says. “We are not hurting anyone by talking.”

Earlier this evening, over 115 physicians from the Committee to Protect Health Care signed a letter opposing this legislation. They state that this bill could harm the health of the LGBTQ students in Florida.