The state and attorneys for students, parents and teachers have settled a court fight over Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education Law.”

The law, derided by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, was passed in 2022 and led to an emotional debate about references to gender identity and sexual orientation in schools and educational materials.

Schools districts around the state attracted national attention as they eliminated hundreds of schoolbooks and programs that referenced gender identity, sexual orientation or LGBTQ characters.

Now, the settlement seeks to draw a distinction between preventing “classroom instruction” about gender identity and sexual orientation and other school contexts in which the subjects might come up.

For example, the settlement clarifies that the statute restricts only “instruction” that occurs in a “classroom setting” and “restricts only classroom instruction on particular subjects — ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity.’”

“Class participation and schoolwork are not ‘instruction,’ even if a student chooses to address sexual orientation or gender identity,” it says.

As another example, the eight-page document says, “The statute restricts the use of books ‘to instruct’ students on the concepts of sexual orientation or gender identity. But the statute does not restrict mere ‘literary references to a gay or transgender person or to a same-sex couple.’”

The plaintiffs agreed to drop the case, contingent on the state Department of Education providing copies of the settlement and the recitals to each school board in the state, according to the document.

Both sides of the conflict claimed victory Monday.

The office of Gov. Ron DeSantis called the settlement a “major win against the activists who sought to stop Florida’s efforts to keep radical gender and sexual ideology out of the classrooms of public-schoolchildren in kindergarten through third grade (5- to 9-year-olds).”

“Today’s mutually agreed settlement ensures that the law will remain in effect and it is expected that the case will be dismissed by the court imminently,” the news release said.

Meanwhile, the LGBTQ-advocacy group Equality Florida described the settlement as “historic.”

“The settlement restores the ability of students, teachers and others in Florida schools to speak and write freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in class participation and schoolwork,” Equality Florida said in a news release. “It also restores safeguards against bullying on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. …”

Equality Florida said the settlement clarifies that the law:

• Does not prohibit references to LGBTQ+ individuals in literature, classroom discussion or academic work product. Teachers are not prohibited from identifying same-sex or transgender spouses or partners as long as they are not “instructing” on the subject of sexual orientation or gender identity.

• Requires neutrality and prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientatation or gender identity of any type, whether heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, cisgender identities, transgender identities or others. It would violate the law, for example, to instruct that heterosexuality is superior to other sexualities.

• Does not prohbit gay-straight alliances, book fairs that include LGBTQ+-focused books, or musicials and plays with LGBTQ+ characters.

• Does not apply to library books, as long as those books are not used in the classroom for instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity.

The settlement was not posted on court dockets, but DeSantis’ office provided a copy to The News Service of Florida after sending out the news release. It was signed last week by an attorney for the plaintiffs and Monday by state Chief Deputy Solicitor General Daniel Bell.

The law, as passed in 2022, prevented instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade and required that such instruction be “age-appropriate … in accordance with state academic standards” in older grades.

The Republican-controlled Legislature and DeSantis went further last year by approving a bill to broaden the prohibition on instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation to pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

The lawsuit, filed in 2022, alleged violation of First Amendment and equal-protection rights and of a federal law known as Title IX, which bars discrimination based on sex in education programs.

U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor in February 2023 ruled that the plaintiffs had not “alleged sufficient facts” to show they had legal standing to challenge the law.

“Plaintiffs have shown a strident disagreement with the new law, and they have alleged facts to show its very existence causes them deep hurt and disappointment,” the Tallahassee-based Winsor wrote. “But to invoke a federal court’s jurisdiction, they must allege more. Their failure to do so requires dismissal.”

The plaintiffs, including students, parents and teachers from several counties, took the case to the Atlanta-based appeals court. Attorneys argued in a brief filed last year that Winsor erred in dismissing the case and that plaintiffs have suffered harm from the law.

“Simply put, the LGBT individual plaintiffs have personally experienced unequal and lesser treatment at the hands of teachers and officials who now restrict what they can say, read, hear, and wear,” the brief said. “That constitutes injury.”

But the appeals court put the case on hold in September after attorneys said they were in settlement talks. Attorneys filed status reports in the ensuing months, with the latest report on Jan. 30 saying the talks were “ongoing.”

Lead image: LGBTQ+ advocates gather before a Duval School Board meeting. | Claire Heddles, Jacksonville Today