Fact Check: Jen Psaki Misleads, Again, About Florida Bill Protecting K-3 Kids from Instruction on Sexuality, Gender

CLAIM: The Florida legislature “passed hateful legislation targeting vulnerable students” from “LGBTQI+” backgrounds.

VERDICT: FALSE. The bill protects children from kindergarten through third grade from forced instruction on sexuality.

Last month, Breitbart News fact-checked the Biden adminstration’s misleading claim that Florida legislators were considering a “Don’t Say Gay” bill that was, the White House said, “designed to attack LGBTQI+ kids.” The facts:

[T]he legislation that is causing such a stir among Democrats and journalists does not mention “gay” or any specific sexuality.

The text of the relevant portion of the bill reads: “A school district may not encourage classroom 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.”

There was a question about the definition of “primary grade levels,” which has since been clarified by an amendment that defines the relevant age group as from kindergarten through third grade. The bill now reads: “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”

There is nothing in the bill about “attack[ing] LGBTQI+” children, nor does the bill, which passed the legislature Tuesday, say anything hateful about any sexual orientation. Yet White House press secretary Jen Psaki repeated the false claim:

.@POTUS and his Administration stand with LGBTQI+ students everywhere, including in Florida where they have passed hateful legislation targeting vulnerable students. https://t.co/WAB2Ksdbqf

— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) March 8, 2022

Neither Psaki nor the White House has even produced any evidence that there are self-identified “LGBTQI+” students among the kindergarteners and first through third grade pupils who are protected by, not attacked by, the Florida legislation.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.