Orlando Sentinel (Sunday)

Buttigieg’s husband Chasten blasts Florida’s proposed ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill

- By Brett Clarkson

Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of Transporta­tion Secretary Pete Buttigieg, is warning on Twitter and in TV interviews that a proposed state law that would ban the discussion of sexual orientatio­n or gender identity in “primary grade levels” in Florida will be devastatin­g enough to be fatal for LGBTQ children.

The proposed Parental Rights in Education bill would protect parents’ ability to make decisions about their children’s education, supporters say, while critics are bluntly calling it the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill and contending it will push LGBTQ kids back into the closet and much worse.

“This will kill kids,” Chasten Buttigieg posted in a tweet directed at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Jan. 20.

The proposed law, one of several bills being proposed in the 2022 Florida Legislativ­e session by Republican lawmakers, would prohibit a school district from encouragin­g classroom discussion about sexual orientatio­n or gender identity until middle school.

Critics like Rep. Carlos G. Smith,

D-Orlando, argue such a law would “effectivel­y erase history by banning classroom discussion about anything gay or trans in K-5.”

Chasten Buttigieg, himself a schoolteac­her, said in an interview on CNN on Tuesday that recent studies like that done by the Trevor Project found that 42% of LGBTQ youth have considered taking their own life in 2021.

“In Florida, what kind of state are you building, where you’re essentiall­y pushing kids back into the closet?” Buttigieg said. “You’re saying, ‘We can’t talk about you. We can’t even talk about your families.’ ”

 ?? MATT ROURKE/AP ?? Democratic presidenti­al candidate and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, right, and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, acknowledg­e the audience at the end of a campaign event in Milford, N.H., on Feb. 10, 2020.
MATT ROURKE/AP Democratic presidenti­al candidate and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, right, and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, acknowledg­e the audience at the end of a campaign event in Milford, N.H., on Feb. 10, 2020.

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