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Girls banned from talking about their periods?

That seems to be on the agenda in Florida

This is the nonsense Ron DeSantis and the GOP brain trust believe will win them a general election:

As Florida Republicans are introducing and advancing a wave of bills on gender and diversity that are likely to be signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), one GOP lawmaker acknowledged this week that his proposed sexual health bill would ban girls from talking about their menstrual cycles in school.

During a Florida House Education Quality Subcommittee hearing Wednesday, state Rep. Ashley Gantt (D) questioned her Republican colleague, state Rep. Stan McClain, on his proposed legislation that would restrict certain educational materials used in state schools, which Democrats and critics have likened to banning books. House Bill 1069 would also require that instruction on sexual health, such as health education, sexually transmitted diseases and human sexuality, “only occur in grades 6 through 12,” which prompted Gantt to ask whether the proposed legislation would prohibit young girls from talking about their periods in school when they first start having them.

“So if little girls experience their menstrual cycle in fifth grade or fourth grade, will that prohibit conversations from them since they are in the grade lower than sixth grade?” Gantt asked.

McClain responded, “It would.”

The GOP lawmaker representing Ocala, Fla., later clarified that it “would not be the intent” of the bill to punish girls if they came to teachers with questions or concerns about their menstrual cycle, adding that he’d be “amenable” to amendments if they were to come up. The bill ended up passing, 13-5, on Wednesday in a party-line vote, as GOP legislators make up a supermajority in the chamber.

It’s nice of him to say that he might allow girls to talk about their periods in the lower grades but DeSantis and his accomplices think it’s “sexualizing” them so I would guess this will be a point of contention in Florida’s schools regardless of what it says in a final bill. Teachers are going to be worried about saying anything that has to do with race, gender, bodies or sexuality in any context. That includes menstruation.

I went to grade school in the dark ages when nobody talked about anything. And even then it wasn’t this bad. This is like something from the Ayatollah’s morality police.

Can this win a national election? I really doubt it.

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