Challenge to Florida's parental rights bill seeks to link law with 'concrete harms'
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor struck down a previous version of the lawsuit in September
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Florida's Parental Rights in Education law is facing another legal challenge after plaintiffs filed a revised challenge on Thursday, claiming the law violated several key legal precedents, including Title IX, due process, and the First Amendment.
"They have been denied equal educational opportunities they would like to receive, in the curriculum and beyond, and they have been subjected to a discriminatory educational environment that treats LGBTQ people and issues as something to be shunned and avoided, on pain of discipline and liability," the 60-page lawsuit said, according to CBS Miami.
"This type of overtly discriminatory treatment has no place in a free democratic society and should not be permitted to stand," the lawsuit continued.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A previous iteration of the attempted block, stricken down by U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor on Sept. 29, found that the plaintiffs failed to present adequate legal standing to proceed with the proposed block and allowed for a revised iteration of the lawsuit to be filed at a later date.
FEDERAL JUDGE TOSSES LAWSUIT AGAINST FLORIDA'S PARENTAL RIGHTS IN EDUCATION LAW
Members and supporters of the LGBTQ community attend the "Say Gay Anyway" rally in Miami Beach, Florida on March 13, 2022. ( (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images))
"The principal problem is that most of plaintiffs' alleged harm is not plausibly tied to the law's enforcement so much as the law's very existence," Winsor's dismissal read.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Plaintiffs contend the law's passage, the sentiment behind it, the legislators' motivation, and the message the law conveys all cause them harm. But no injunction can unwind any of that."
The plaintiffs consist of two students, two lesbian couples with children enrolled in Miami-Dade County schools, two teachers and a woman with children in Orange County schools, according to CBS Miami.
The revised lawsuit claims the intended harm of the law, coined by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" law, is to bar LGBTQ+ students from equal protections.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}WHITE HOUSE SLAMS FLORIDA'S PARENTAL RIGHTS BILL AS IT TAKES EFFECT: ‘THIS IS DISCRIMINATION’
Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, at the Florida gubernatorial debate in Fort Pierce, Florida, US, on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"The intended impact of this law is apparent. It seeks to undo the equal inclusion of LGBTQ people and issues in Florida's schools and to impede policies requiring equal treatment and support of LGBTQ students," the lawsuit said, according to the report.
"Presented with vague prohibitions under the threat of litigation, schools and educators have been and will be chilled from discussing or even referencing LGBTQ people, and LGBTQ students have been and will be stigmatized, ostracized, and denied the educational opportunities that their non-LGBTQ peers receive," it continued.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Members and supporters of the LGBTQ community attend the "Say Gay Anyway" rally in Miami Beach, Florida on March 13, 2022. ( (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images))
The law, which has garnered national attention, bars public schools from teaching children aged kindergarten through third grade instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Florida's attorneys maintained that instruction for children among the age range should receive age-appropriate instruction and can be taught about gender and sexual orientation from parents instead of public schools.
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Equality Florida said the law is in need of a challenge because it is "hateful" and amounts to "government censorship."
"Since the inception of this hateful policy, lawmakers assured the public that it would not lead to censorship or erasure of LGBTQ people. But our community has always known the truth," Equality Florida said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The Don’t Say LGBTQ law has always been designed to stigmatize the LGBTQ community, ban books about us, and implement government censorship of our families from classrooms. Those are the impacts already sweeping the state, from book bans in Palm Beach, to Safe Space stickers being peeled from classroom windows in Sarasota, to a refusal to recognize LGBTQ History Month in Miami-Dade."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We made a promise to defend the rights of all students to have a healthy environment to learn and thrive and for all parents to know their families are included and respected," the group continued. "Defending Florida's families and students from this intentionally vague, deeply unconstitutional, and immensely harmful law is what necessitated legal action. If courts are truly committed to protecting and preserving the constitutional rights of all people, they will agree that this law must be stricken from the books."
DeSantis and more of the bill's supporters, however, have maintained that the law is a critical way to help parents stay involved in their kids' education.
"In Florida, we not only know that parents have a right to be involved, we insist that parents have a right to be involved," DeSantis said when he signed the law in March.