I object to Florida’s "Don’t Say Gay" bill as a lesbian mom — and a conservative

Especially for young kids, their families are their whole world. My children talk about their families in class. They bring home pictures they drew of us. The figures in those pieces might look like thumbs, but the kids will tell you, “Those are my moms, that’s my little brother, and that’s our cat, Calvin. Hobbes, our other cat, died.” When our children explain who’s in their pictures or talk about their upcoming family vacation plans, their classmates sometimes have questions like “Why does Bobby have two moms?”

The obvious way to respond to this completely normal question is “Some kids have a mom and a dad, some have two moms or two dads, or maybe just one mom or one dad. Families can look all kinds of different ways and they’re all great. The most important thing about a family is that the people in it love each other.”

I’m lucky to live in a state where my kids’ teachers can say such things. The new Florida bill, however, would make this terribly complicated. Now, teachers will have to ask themselves if simply telling the truth — that families come in different forms — means that they’ve given instruction on sexual orientation. And, in the absence of any clear definition of “instruction,” these educators have to wonder if a parent will end up suing them over a simple explanation that’s intended to put a child at ease.