The hosts of “The View” definitely don’t support Florida’s new state bill, which opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. On Wednesday’s episode, the women agreed it was wholly unnecessary.
According to the legislation, which Florida governor Ron DeSantis has signaled his support of, school districts “may not encourage 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.”
Ana Navarro weighed in first, saying that the targeted age groups aren’t learning about sexuality yet anyway.
“I’m very upset about this. First, I think it’s not a necessary bill. First graders are not having a curriculum that teaches sexuality,” Navarro said. “I also think that the message it sends is a very chilling one for LGBTQ families. You know, we are — the Republican party is the party of family values…”
Navarro added that “the message is ‘You are not welcome here.’”
During the show, guest host Alyssa Farrah Griffin noted that the bill “specifically targets 3-year-olds to third graders,” and agreed with Navarro that she doesn’t feel it’s necessary for this age group.
“Like, how widespread of an issue is this that we need this as a policy coming down from the state?” she posed.
The CNN political commentator noted though that conversations about sexuality do need to be had with kids, just at a later time and in a different capacity.
“I think these kind of discussions though, more broadly, might fit better into sex education, which happens later in education. It’s more like 6th grade now. But it does need to be, these conversations absolutely need to be had.”
Host Sunny Hostin later pointed out that she’s not at all shocked by this legislation, and called it the logical progression after conservatives began politicizing and targeting critical race theory. Hostin added that she believes women would likely be targeted by legislation next.
“I’m surprised that parents that sort of jumped on the bandwagon of this didn’t realize that this is where it naturally leads,” Hostin said. “We’ve seen this so many times in our country, and in history, globally.”