Woodhull Condemns Florida Department of Education Ban on Critical Sex Education Topics
Woodhull is alarmed by the ongoing attacks against freedom of expression and children’s right to education in Florida. In recent years, Florida’s legislature has passed a series of laws restricting critical sex and gender education topics in school districts throughout the state. Last month came the most recent suppression of young people’s access to accurate and affirming sexual health information. Following the passage of HB 1069 in May 2023, which prohibited “classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in Pre-K through 8th grade”, Florida’s Department of Education has now ordered school districts to remove topics from sex education curriculum related to contraception, consent, domestic violence, abuse, and LGBTQ+ issues.
Ricci Joy Levy, Woodhull President and CEO, expressed deep concern over the Department’s orders, explaining, “Children’s rights to education and expression are once again being trampled upon in Florida. In addition to threatening children’s rights, these latest restrictions also ignore decades of research that show children and communities are safer and healthier when they have access to comprehensive sex education.” Levy went on to emphasize the disproportionate harms inflicted on LGBTQ+ students in Florida because of the new restrictions that only allow sex education programs to define heterosexual relationships as healthy. “We at Woodhull recognize that all young people in Florida are hurt when they do not have access to accurate and reliable sexual health information in schools, but we are particularly concerned for LGBTQ+ students throughout the state whose lives and experiences are denied and invalidated by school curriculum that rejects the fundamental reality of their existence.”
To protect children’s freedom of expression and right to education in Florida, state lawmakers must repeal HB 1069 and similar laws that infringe on students’ access to critical sexual and reproductive health information. Woodhull also calls on the Florida Department of Education to reverse its highly restrictive orders limiting sex education curriculum to abstinence-only teachings. The students of Florida deserve an education system that is reflective of decades of evidence that reveal abstinence-only education programs are ineffective and harmful.