Emails show one of DeSantis' stories backing the rationale for so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law.... [View all]

[Fla Dem]

FACT CHECKEmails show one of DeSantis’ stories backing the rationale for so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law didn’t happen as the governor says

By Leyla Santiago, CNN
Updated 7:42 AM EDT, Wed April 6, 2022

CNN
—
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has repeatedly pointed to the case of a family in the state’s Leon County to explain the need for a controversial new law, dubbed by critics the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, that bans schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity, particularly to young children.

On several occasions since signing the bill into law, DeSantis has highlighted the story of a woman named January Littlejohn, a registered Republican, who says she was not fully consulted about the school’s gender-affirming plan for her child.

“We had a mother from Leon County, and her daughter was going to school and some people in the school had decided that the daughter was really a boy and not a girl. So they changed the girl’s name to a boy’s name, had her dress like a boy and on doing all this stuff, without telling the mother or getting consent from the mother. First of all, they shouldn’t be doing that at all. But to do these things behind the parents’ back and to say that the parents should be shut out. That is wrong,” DeSantis said during a news conference in Jasper, Florida, on Tuesday.

SNIP.......

Facts First: DeSantis’ account of what happened in Leon County is not quite what a limited number of records that have been made public show, and the governor has continued to repeat the story even after those records were made public late last year. CNN obtained emails that show Littlejohn wrote the school in 2020 and notified a teacher that her child wanted to change pronouns. Contrary to the governor’s portrayal of the story, Littlejohn also wrote that she would not stop her child from using preferred pronouns or name of choice at school. Littlejohn references these emails in her lawsuit against the school and they were reported by the Tallahassee Democrat in November.

Snip....

In an August 27, 2020, email to a teacher, Littlejohn stated, in part, “This has been an incredibly difficult situation for our family and her father and I are trying to be as supportive as we can. She is currently identifying as non-binary. She would like to go by the new name [redacted] and prefers the pronouns they/them. We have not changed her name at home yet, but I told her if she wants to go by the name [redacted] with her teachers, I won’t stop her.”

The teacher thanked Littlejohn and asked if she should share with other teachers.

More.....
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/06/politics/fact-check-desantis-dont-say-gay-family-narrative/index.html