A Florida-based teacher is being investigated by the state for 'indoctrination' after showing her class a Disney film.
So, that's how things are going on that side of the world...
Fifth grade teacher Jenna Barbee showed her class the 2022 film Strange World which, if you haven't seen it, features an openly gay character named Ethan who has a brief crush on another male character.
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Sharing her side of the story in a six-minute TikTok video, Jenna, who is in her first year of teaching, explained that she showed the film because it fitted with the class curriculum, since they had been learning about earth science and eco-systems.
She added that the LGBTQ+ subplot, which she described as 'harmless', was not the reason she put on the movie.
The school teacher had even received signed permission slips from the parents of every pupil in the class to let her show PG movies and says that there were 'no objections to specific content'.
Despite that, Jenna says in her video that she was reported to the local school board by the mother of a student, before being reported to Florida's state education department for 'indoctrination'.
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This, the teacher says, all went down before anyone came and spoke with her about the situation.
Jenna goes on to reveal that a number of her students had come ot her earlier in the school year to share with her that they're members of the LGBTQ+ community.
"And it's not a big deal to me so I just said, 'Okay, that's awesome, do you.' Not pushing anything, just being accepting. That's what I do," she shared.
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"Does that have anything to do with why I showed it? Not in the slightest.
"The LGBTQ aspect of the movie is harmless. It's just a talked about crush and it's only a couple of lines in a total scene time of just over two minutes."
The teacher notes that none of her students 'batted an eye' during the scene, and didn't realize it was a problem 'until the board member and the state made it a big deal'.
"Now there is an investigator from the Florida Department of Education coming to pull my students out of class to investigate them individually," she claimed.
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"Do you know the trauma that that is going to cause to some of my students? They are fifth graders. Some of them can barely come up and have a conversation with me and are just getting comfortable with me, and now an investigator is allowed to come and interrogate them? Are you kidding me?"
In a school board meeting, the parent and board member who originally reported Jenna argued: "It is not a teacher's job to impose their beliefs upon a child: religious, sexual orientation, gender identity, any of the above. But allowing movies such as this assist teachers in opening a door, and please hear me, they assist teachers in opening the door for conversations that have no place in our classrooms", per Tallahassee Democrat.
This incident comes as a result of governor Ron DeSantis' highly controversial 'Don't Say Gay' bill, which bans discussions of gender and sexuality in schools - from kindergarten through to grade 3 - across Florida.
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DeSantis, who appears to be gearing up for a run for president, has been seriously butting heads with Disney as of late, after executives from the company spoke out against the 'Don't Say Gay' law.
Topics: Disney, Film and TV, LGBTQ, US News
Ali Condon