- A fifth grade teacher in Florida says she’s under investigation by the state after she showed her students the Disney animated feature “Strange World,” which features a gay teen romance.
But the screening led to the ire of Shannon Rodriguez, a Hernando County school board member who is also a parent of one of Barbee’s students. Because “Strange World” features a gay character, it may violate Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” signed into law last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The controversial legislation bans certain instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classrooms.
“It is not a teacher’s job to impose their beliefs upon a child – religious, sexual orientation, gender identity, any of the above. But allowing movies such as this assists teachers in opening a door ... for conversations that have no place in our classrooms,” she said.