Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis marked the end of his state’s 2022 legislative session by referring to it as “the year of the parent,” responding to one reporter’s question with the words “we want our kids to be kids.”
The two-month session was marked with high-profile legislation, including a new bill passed in the Florida legislature that would ban the teaching of sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-3.
DeSantis was asked by a reporter during the question-and-answer session how businesses would respond to the newly passed bill.
“People actually said that if you don’t have classroom instruction on sexual matters in grades K-3, that somehow businesses don’t want to be in Florida? I think people need to get out of their bubble and actually talk to parents,” DeSantis said.
GOV. DESANTIS: "People actually said that if you don't have classroom instruction on sexual matters in grades K-3, that somehow businesses don't want to be in Florida? I think people need to get out of their bubble and actually talk to parents." pic.twitter.com/rZKgYK9SBt
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 14, 2022
The governor also addressed the bill during his own speech.
“As a parent of three kids that are age five and under, thank you for letting me and my wife send our kids to kindergarten without them being sexualized,” DeSantis said during his remarks.
Governor DeSantis closes out the 2022 Legislative Session. https://t.co/B3zfI7EAED
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 14, 2022
“I think if you look at what’s been done, both in terms of funding and policy, this really was the year of the parent in the state of Florida,” the governor added.
The Parental Rights in Education Bill, a bill renamed by Democrats as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, has garnered strong support from Americans. In a new national poll commissioned by The Daily Wire, over two-thirds of Americans and most Disney consumers said the company is wrong to be against the legislation.
DeSantis has indicated that he will sign the bill after it passed in Florida’s Senate last Tuesday and last month in the House.
As previously reported, the national poll of U.S. adults was conducted over the weekend by market research technology platform Lucid on behalf of The Daily Wire. The survey’s 1,000 person sample was 37% Democrat, 32% Republican, and 31% Independent.
DeSantis also made headlines last week after pushing back against a reporter regarding what the new bill actually says.
“Does it say that in the bill?” DeSantis asked.
“I’m asking you to tell me what’s in the bill, because you are pushing false narratives,” DeSantis added. “It doesn’t matter what critics say.”
“It bans classroom instruction on sexual identity and gender orientation,” the reporter admitted.
“For who?” DeSantis asked. “For grades pre-k through three. So five-year-olds, six-year-olds, seven-year-olds — and the idea that you wouldn’t be honest about that and tell people what it actually says, it’s why people don’t trust people like you because you peddle false narratives.”
DeSantis added, “We’re going to make sure that parents are able to send their kid to kindergarten without having some of this stuff injected into their school curriculum.”
JUST NOW: I asked @GovRonDeSantis if he supported HB 1557, the legislation critics call the 'Don't Say Gay' bill.https://t.co/CGiooSrKYn @WFLA https://t.co/H34CGSj7BJ pic.twitter.com/C518l1QaC3
— Evan Donovan (@EvanDonovan) March 7, 2022
Disney CEO Bob Chapek addressed the controversy during a shareholder meeting last week to express his company’s concerns with the new bill.
“While we have been strong supporters of the community for decades, I understand that many are upset that we did not speak out against the bill,” Chapek said, according to CNN. “We were opposed to the bill from the outset, but we chose not to take a public position on it because we thought we could be more effective working behind the scenes engaging directly with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.”