Diaz slams Democrats for focus on ‘sexual ideology,’ not student recovery from Helene

Florida’s Voice | By Amber Jo Cooper | October 3, 2024

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. slammed Democratic Congressional members for focusing on “pushing their sexual ideology on children” rather than checking in on how students and schools are doing following Hurricane Helene.

A group of Democrats sent a letter to Diaz and Gov. Ron DeSantis in regard to the state emphasizing abstinence over other birth control methods to prevent teen pregnancy in sexual education.

The letter said the group has “severe concerns” over the state’s “abstinence-only directive” to Florida public schools.

“While Florida is recovering from Hurricane Helene, Congressional Democrats are focused on pushing their sexual ideology on children,” Diaz wrote.

Diaz said none of the members reached out to inquire how kids are doing after the hurricane – or what they could do to assist.

“The message is clear: Democrats only care about your kids being in school if they can indoctrinate them,” Diaz said.

The group claimed abstinence-only programs “have been consistently proven ineffective, damaging to students’ health, and discriminatory against the LGBTQ+ community.”

Florida Democratic U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Kathy Castor, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, Lois Frankel, Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Darren Soto and Frederica Wilson signed off on the letter.

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education said the following in September:

Florida law requires schools to emphasize the benefits of sexual abstinence as the expected standard and the consequences of teenage pregnancy.

Lessons include factual information about the biological reproductive process, including education on the fact that there are only two genders: male and female.

A state government should not be emphasizing or encouraging sexual activity among children or minors and is therefore right to emphasize abstinence.

The state has been vying to remove sexually-charged education from the education system over the past several years under DeSantis and GOP leadership in the state legislature.