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‘The View’ Co-Hosts Claim Florida Bill Is ‘Shaming’ LGBTQ Children And Families

[Screenshot/The View]

Nicole Silverio Media Reporter
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“The View” co-hosts claimed Tuesday that Florida’s H.B. 1557 is “shaming” LGBTQ children and their families.

The bill, titled Parental Rights in Education, prohibits educators from teaching children about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and requires schools to notify the student’s parents of health care treatments, screenings and well-being questionnaires. The legislation passed the state Senate on Tuesday with a 22-17 vote, after passing the House on Feb. 24.

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg claimed the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity has “never been happening” in elementary schools. She then suggested the bill is “shaming” LGBTQ children and “punishing” teachers who want to help them.

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“It’s not solving anything but what it is doing is creating a veil of shame that already existed in a journey that’s been fought for years for people to be their authentic selves,” co-host Sara Haines said. “And now you’re taking away schools. Teachers are first-responders for kids, they’re the first-responders for anything going on … There are people that are so violently unhinged and ignorant that this can be a problem for some people. You can’t take teachers away from these kids because when they are obligated to then out their own children, this is, again, a journey we have not finished yet.”

Haines told the co-hosts that her brother, who is gay, began to “feel different” around the age of five and could have been in a situation where a teacher was obligated to “betray him.” (RELATED: ‘Gay! Gay! Gay!’: Florida Democrats Chant In Protest Of Parental Right Bill) 

Goldberg brought up children with same-sex parents who she said may not be able to talk about their home lives with their peers.

“I don’t understand the point,” Goldberg continued. “I don’t understand making kids’ lives harder than they need to be … Life’s too short for us to do this to the kids. It’s too short to do it to anybody, but it’s too short to do it to the kids.”

“The cruelty is the point, I think, and we hear it all the time,” co-host Sunny Hostin added. “It’s to shame families, it’s to shame children and we could see this coming, I think. When you start banning books, when you start banning history in the classroom, what is the next step?”

Former Trump-era White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, a guest co-host, said that her 14-year-old son came out as gay and that he did not want to openly reveal where she worked. She said the bill “is making children feel different.”

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed back Friday against criticisms of the bill, particularly labeling the legislation as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. He argued that it is “inappropriate” to teach gender ideology to kindergarteners and that the bill is crafted to give parents “assurance” that their children are protected from lessons that are not “age appropriate.”

The bill will now be in transit to DeSantis’ desk, who has hinted at supporting the measure.