The Twitter account known as Libs of Tik Tok featured a video of a Florida first-grade teacher bemoaning how she can possibly proceed with teaching the six-year-olds in her class when the state’s new Parental Rights in Education Act prevents her from discussing personal details about her “marriage” to a “trans-fem person.”
https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1509658926203039744
“As an elementary school teacher in Florida,” the teacher tearfully begins in the video, “this new bill has really been weighing on me a lot.”
She continues:
I teach first grade, which means my classroom is one of the ones that will be directly affected. For those of you who haven’t been in the classroom for awhile, one of the things that teachers always do at back-to-school night and meet-the-teacher, and things like that, as they like send home this cute, little like “meet the teacher” thing where it has a little bio about us, some of our favorite stuff, just so that you know who we are.
“How do I do that next year?” she asked. “Do I lie? And not talk about my marriage? Do I pretend I’m single? Do I invalidate my spouse’s stance as a trans-fem person? Or, do I put my job on the line to introduce myself?”
“What am I supposed to do?” she sobbed. “I don’t know.”
The video received multiple replies, including several that pointed out most first-graders have little interest in their teachers’ personal lives:
— Alchemist Roland 📰🛰️📡📺🧟♂️ (@ClutchCityDude) March 31, 2022
Exactly! I never knew anything about my teachers and my interest in their personal life 0% 😂
— Alia Renee (@AliaRenee2) April 1, 2022
I don’t understand why they feel compelled to discuss their personal lives with students… when I was in school we didn’t know our teacher’s first names much less the details of their personal lives. They simply Mr. Smith or Mrs. Jones to us.
— Jeffrey A. Setaro (@jasetaro) March 31, 2022
Several other Twitter users commented the teacher appears quite self-involved about her sexual identity:
So it was never about the kids and their learning. I was about her and her own personal vendetta against the world.
— babe honker (@babehonker) March 31, 2022
Rampant narcissism.
My teachers in the 70s & 80s never yapped about themselves.
School is for students. That’s it.
— rajeev bhatia (@RajeevBhatia416) March 31, 2022
It's about them seeking validation via our children. When they say things like "What am I supposed to say to MY kids" "How am I supposed to talk about MY spouse to the kids"
It's disgusting that they are this upset. We are talking about KINDERGARTEN THROUGH 3RD GRADE!! FFS!!
— David Kniceley (@DavieBroy) March 31, 2022
I’ve met many of my daughter’s teachers during parent-teacher night and guess what we talk about? THE STUDENTS AND THE LEARNING! Crazy idea, I know. If you want to talk about your personal life, get some friends.
— 273negative (@273negative) March 31, 2022
This is what happens when you make your sexuality your entire personality.
— Ogre Plush (@ogre_plush) March 31, 2022
https://twitter.com/CallmeBrewster/status/1509664134085767168
Christina Pushaw, press secretary to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), also tweeted, “How hard is it to just not talk to 1st graders about your personal life, period?”
How hard is it to just *not* talk to 1st graders about your personal life, period? https://t.co/7CCR7Np5xE
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) March 31, 2022
“I am from a very liberal part of Southern California,” Pushaw continued. “No doubt I had teachers of different orientations. I would not have KNOWN THAT as a child though, because PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES used to mean something.”
I am from a very liberal part of Southern California. No doubt I had teachers of different orientations. I would not have KNOWN THAT as a child though, because PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES used to mean something.
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) March 31, 2022
DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education Act into law Monday.
Today, I signed HB 1557, the Parental Rights in Education Act, into law.
It ensures parents can send their kids to kindergarten without gender ideology being injected into instruction and they will be notified and have the right to decline healthcare services offered at schools. pic.twitter.com/OLnW2GLrJl
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 28, 2022
“It ensures parents can send their kids to kindergarten without gender ideology being injected into instruction and they will be notified and have the right to decline healthcare services offered at schools,” DeSantis said.
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Susan Berry, PhD is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Florida Teacher” by Libs of Tik tok.
