School district censors Shakespeare to comply with Don’t Say Gay law

A Florida school district has placed new restrictions on reading works by English playwright William Shakespeare in an effort to comply with Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R) Parental Rights in Education Act, informally known as the Don’t Say Gay law.

The law was expanded earlier this year to include all grade levels in Florida and ban schools from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity under the premise that even older teen students aren’t ready to hear about LGBTQ+ identities and sexuality in school. 

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GOP official wants to require teens be accompanied by their parents at the public library

He’s worried about “graphic sexually explicit materials” at the library.

Gaither High School teacher Joseph Cool told the Tampa Bay Times that because there is “some raunchiness in Shakespeare,” the Hillsborough County school district decided to limit students to only reading certain excerpts of his work rather than full plays.

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According to school officials, the changes have been implemented in part due to the Don’t Say Gay law and in part due to the fact that new state exams will cover a wider range of books.

Cool knows it isn’t the district’s fault, but he isn’t happy with the change. He said reading all of Macbeth with his 10th graders last year “gave them a sense of connection between stuff that happened in the past and things that are not necessarily in the past. The choices that we make, power struggles, delusions of grandeur. It is so rich in content and things that you can have discussions about, academic and scholarly discussions.”

He added that he thinks the entire world is laughing at them. “Taking Shakespeare in its entirety out because the relationship between Romeo and Juliet is somehow exploiting minors is just absurd.”

The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) continues to stir controversy in public schools. Just this week, it lost a battle with the College Board after trying to ban Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology because it includes topics on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The College Board refused to create a censored version of the course – and the subsequent test – for the state of Florida, and the FLDOE ultimately caved, telling teachers to teach the course “in its entirety.”

But Hillsborough County still decided to discontinue the course. Administrators said there was not enough guidance on how to conduct the course in an age-appropriate manner, as was instructed by the FLDOE.

“Honestly, it feels that much of this is intentional, in order to cause as much chaos in public education as possible,” wrote school board member Jessica Vaughn on Facebook, “so that the collapse of public education is swift and the agenda of education privatization can move forward with less obstacles.”

Vaughn added, “I spent hours on the phone this morning with frustrated parents (of all partisanship) who are outraged with the direction of public education and who feel like the people who are influencing public education policies have zero stake in public education and don’t have children who utilize our public school system. Parents want their students to be educated and competitive on a national level. Denying access to things like AP psychology, accurate black history, critical thinking and Shakespeare is not benefitting or protecting our children. It’s giving them a disadvantage – nationally.

Last year, DeSantis signed the Individual Freedoms Act (known as the Stop WOKE Act), which limits how racial and LGBTQ+ issues are taught in public schools, public universities, colleges, and workplace training. A judge blocked parts of the law from going into effect in November 2022, calling it “positively dystopian.”

DeSantis is also in the midst of what many have called a hostile takeover of the New College of Florida. In January, DeSantis appointed the far-right anti-LGBTQ+ activist Christopher Rufo, among other conservatives, to the New College’s board of trustees in an effort to make the school more conservative.

The college had a reputation for being progressive and queer-friendly, but Rufo said the board would conduct a “top-down restructuring” of the school that would involve designing “a new core curriculum from scratch.” As a result, faculty have been leaving in droves.