Bob Chapek's response to Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill

[Angel Ariel]

I dont know the grade system in the US. What's the age of this grade?

10-11 year olds, depending on when they start kindergarten.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Edit: looks like the post I replied to is removed. Not sure what to do. @The Mom, remove this one if needed.

I am allowed to be near an elementary school. Actually, I'm quite wanted to be there. Otherwise there would be no school. The hard life of being a teacher

As I said before: it would amaze you have many big or little things 5 years old ask about the general theme of sex. Maybe your own 5 yours old never asked you any questions (Just to be sure: never noticed was anything slightly sex related in their observations and questions? Not why their body is different then the other sex? stuff like that?) , but with a group of 20, it happens. Kids, even the youngest ones, have words for their privates parts. Even subjects like that are, for a school, sex-related. How do you deal with a little one screaming the 'wrong' kind of name a bit too hard?

That doesn't mean there's a full biology course of sex-ed with all the details, but even the youngest one notice things

My oldest used to try to say "truck" before he got full grasp of the "t" sound...you can guess what came out of his mouth. That was super fun in public.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

"Gay" is not in the bill. Not acknowledging gay people is not in the bill. What is in the bill is "Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards."

Why not wait until children are more mentally mature before discussing those subjects. What is your obsession with sex and children?

You know that "gay" is a sexual orientation, right?

You know that gay people exist even when children are in third grade, right?

You know someone in the class has a gay parent or sibling, right? It's going to come up. I don't see how it never comes up.

When someone is getting teased at recess because their brother is gay, the teacher can't explain different families to the class?

Your last line was offensive. You should edit it and apologize if you are decent.

 

[RunningKoen]

For all those who replied about grade 5: thanks!

Kids of that age can definitely be in the first phase of puberty, where the brain starts changing. Girls seem to hit puberty earlier than boys. Because of that, in those ages, girls are leading the changes in group dynamic because of that. For an group, there's always a swift that can be noticed between the age of 10 till 12.

Before that age, roughly during 6 till 10, the classical divide between boys and girls starts to form, because both sides start to understand (and feel) how there's more than being friends. Girls hang out with girls, boy hang out with boys. They can play together, be friends, but there will be a general divide. The first forms of ' relations' start to happen.

Without a doubt a age where the topic is relevant,maybe even needed.

 

[The Mom]

I dont know the grade system in the US. What's the age of this grade?

It can vary state by state, depending upon their age cut-off for starting Kindergarten. My niece was born 15 months after my daughter, but they were in the same grade because they live in different states.

 

[lazyboy97o]

"Gay" is not in the bill. Not acknowledging gay people is not in the bill. What is in the bill is "Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards."

Why not wait until children are more mentally mature before discussing those subjects. What is your obsession with sex and children?

Why do the authors and sponsors think this has something to do with gay people?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It can vary state by state, depending upon their age cut-off for starting Kindergarten. My niece was born 15 months after my daughter, but they were in the same grade because they live in different states.

The only major outliers left are Arkansas (May 1) and Connecticut (January 1). Everywhere else has consolidated around the start of the school year, with the most common dates being August 31 or September 1.

 

[RunningKoen]

It can vary state by state, depending upon their age cut-off for starting Kindergarten. My niece was born 15 months after my daughter, but they were in the same grade because they live in different states.

Thanks, others helped me enough to understand it. You were right about the level of puberty kids can have at that grade.

It's often even underestimated.

The minor system over here is different than in the US aswell, but my minor was about what happens during the brain in puberty.
long story start: the entire ' puberty' roughly takes over 15 year It happens earlier than most people would think but also takes longer to finish.

 

[marymarypoppins]

No one has mentioned "sex ed for babies". No one. Not one single person.

K-3rd is what I was talking about and exactly what the bill addresses . They are young learners who don’t need to a sex Ed curriculum. Upper grades it has to be age appropriate ! This is the bill you have an issue with not me!

 

[Stupido]

Also, getting this thread back on track in regards to it's affect on Disney:

The walk outs have been trending USA wide top 10 all day (currently sitting at #6), with videos of hundreds of cast members walking out across the country. I wonder if Disney will offer a response today.

 

[Angel Ariel]

The only major outliers left are Arkansas (May 1) and Connecticut (January 1). Everywhere else has consolidated around the start of the school year, with the most common dates being August 31 or September 1.

Unless it’s changed in recent years, NY had a December cut off.

 

[lightningtap347]

As bad as this bill is, it really feels like the primary reason for it is for DeSantis to pull a fast one on all the knuckle draggers in his state from pressing him on the worsening economic conditions of the state.

Give them an easy and loud distraction and then run for President. What could go wrong?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Unless it’s changed in recent years, NY had a December cut off.

New York is weird. There are different dates when you CAN start versus when you MUST start, it's different for public, private, or independent schools, and New York City has it's own set of rules that sometimes contradict the rest of the state.

 

[Angel Ariel]

New York is weird. There are different dates when you CAN start versus when you MUST start, it's different for public, private, or independent schools, and New York City has it's own set of rules that sometimes contradict the rest of the state.

I was a “rest of the state” person I started school at age 4 because of the December cut off.

Then in HS I moved to a state with a September cutoff and ended up a year younger than all my classmates

 

[flynnibus]

It’s amazing how nobody wants to address this issue. Nobody will provide even a hypothetical explanation for why those amendments were insufficient.

Because unfortunately most people are trying to defend their personal beliefs and project what they want to happen in schools - instead of focusing on what the Florida law enables or not.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I was a “rest of the state” person I started school at age 4 because of the December cut off.

Then in HS I moved to a state with a September cutoff and ended up a year younger than all my classmates

In Connecticut, it's very much class-and-income based, it's kind of sad. We have the January cutoff. The poor and working-class kids with late birthdays all start age age 4 because parents are eager to drop that extra year of childcare expense, but the families who can easily afford daycare or who have a stay-at-home parent almost all hold their kid back a year if they have a fall birthday.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Not directed at me but I’d have no problem with that, I don’t want the teacher telling an 8 year old boy they can be a mommy too if they want to be though. That’s where I draw my line.

Then you are against this bill. And I agree with your whole statement.

I think "both sides" here are sort of exaggerating the amount of roundtable discussion that happens in second grade classrooms.

I don't know. Again, how does it not come up? Isn't one of the most basic things at that age in school talking about your family? Have things changed so much that no one does the drawing of the family anymore? The first day assignment about what you did on your vacation? (Will they require instruction to leave out any references to family members and just say, "I went to the beach with two people" to satisfy this bill?)

It's like asking a gay teacher to not wear a wedding band or to not have a picture of their spouse anywhere on their desk (without requiring the same of straight teachers.) I don't get it. This isn't controversial. It hasn't been widely controversial for years now. It's being drummed up by politicians pandering to their base.

Let's start where I think we mostly agree first, OK? They gay parents, gay sibling stuff. Are you going to put it on a 6 year old to never mention their older brother in class? That is actively teaching that child shame about their sibling/family. Who wants that? Are you going to try to explain to this 6 year old that they can say, "I went to the movies with my brother" but not "I went to the movies with my brother and his boyfriend?" Or even worse, teach this 6 year old to lie and say, "I went to the movies with my brother and his...friend?"

How do these things not come up?

And here's the flip side from someone with the opposite experience. All through my entire life in school up through 12th grade, not one person in the school ever said they were gay or had a gay family member. That left me feeling like a complete alien. There was no gay-straight alliance club. There was no Will & Grace on TV. There was nothing. No acknowledgment. And my very intelligent little head filled that void with negatives about myself such that I could not acknowledge who I was until I was 24 years old (and after my own failed suicide attempt at 19 because I never wanted to "deal with this" and didn't know how.) My romantic life was delayed until my mid-20's, that's a decent handicap on life in general.

The first time I ever heard the word gay, I was within the age group being discussed. My cousin, Kathy (about my age) had just learned the word. So when her Dad came to Grandma's house and kissed Grandma and Grandpa hello (as we do in Italian households) Kathy jumped up and down and said her Dad and Grandpa were gay because they were both boys and they kissed hello. (Ha!) But it never left my psyche that this thing was ridiculed. It would have been to my benefit had someone corrected my cousin and explained that there are all kinds of good people in this world.

Other kids called me worse words that meant gay when I was still in the age group being discussed. Stereotypically, I didn't want to play football with the boys (although plenty of gay people do) and instead jumped rope and played house with the girls.

It would have benefited me had a teacher explained what certain words meant and why it was OK no matter who you are.

I guess this bill takes us back to that? I can absolutely quantify the harm caused by that.

 

[Disney Analyst]

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Because unfortunately most people are trying to defend their personal beliefs and project what they want to happen in schools - instead of focusing on what the Florida law enables or not.

As I've said, we're having three different debates in parallel.

1. Do parents have any kind of legitimate beef here?

2. Is this bill effective in achieving #1?

3. What does any of this have to do with The Walt Disney Company?

...to which I say... yes, no, and not a damn thing.

 

[Angel Ariel]

In Connecticut, it's very much class-and-income based, it's kind of sad. We have the January cutoff. The poor and working-class kids with late birthdays all start age age 4 because parents are eager to drop that extra year of childcare expense, but the families who can easily afford daycare or who have a stay-at-home parent almost all hold their kid back a year if they have a fall birthday.

Redshirting like that is a relatively newer concept, but I can see how it becomes an income issue.