The infamous Florida governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, is at it again with yet another “Don’t Say Gay” ban. Last week, DeSantis, ordered The College Board to remove any LGBTQ+ teachings from an Advanced Placement (AP) psychology course.
But The College Board said not this time, DeSantis.
On Thursday, The College Board released a statement saying that it had rejected DeSantis’ demand to remove the sections of the psychology class that mention gender identity and sexual orientation.
“Please know that we will not modify our courses to accommodate restrictions on teaching essential, college-level topics,” the board said in a letter to Florida’s education department, according to Politico. “Doing so would break the fundamental promise of AP: colleges wouldn’t broadly accept that course for credit and that course wouldn’t prepare students for success in the discipline.”
This is not The College Board’s first rodeo with DeSantis’ attempts at censorship and erasure. Last year, the Florida governor demanded that the organization amend its African American studies class, including altering lessons on the Black Lives Matter movement and the concept of reparations.
At first, the board complied, but then said it would revise the course again. Despite DeSantis’ investment in censoring the upcoming AP psychology class, it is unclear whether the class will even be offered in Florida. According to Politico, Florida is on its way to creating its own high-level courses to replace AP classes.
The censorship of education is unfortunately just the tip of the very large anti-gay iceberg. DeSantis has made his anti-LGBTQ mission clear. He’s already signed 6 anti-LGBTQ bills, one bill outlawing gender-affirming care for minors and another making it a criminal offense if adults don’t use the bathroom that corresponds with the sex they were assigned at birth. Earlier this year, he expanded the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law to all grade levels, barring discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in all public school classrooms in Florida.
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