Fact check: Emails show one of DeSantis' stories backing the rationale for so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law didn't happen as the governor says

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image for Fact check: Emails show one of DeSantis' stories backing the rationale for so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law didn't happen as the governor says

(CNN) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has repeatedly pointed to the case of a family in the state's Leon County to explain the need for a controversial new law, dubbed by critics the "Don't Say Gay" bill, that bans schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity, particularly to young children.

On several occasions since signing the bill into law , DeSantis has highlighted the story of a woman named January Littlejohn, a registered Republican, who says she was not fully consulted about the school's gender-affirming plan for her child.

"We had a mother from Leon County, and her daughter was going to school and some people in the school had decided that the daughter was really a boy and not a girl. So they changed the girl's name to a boy's name, had her dress like a boy and on doing all this stuff, without telling the mother or getting consent from the mother. First of all, they shouldn't be doing that at all. But to do these things behind the parents' back and to say that the parents should be shut out. That is wrong," DeSantis said during a news conference in Jasper, Florida, on Tuesday.

DeSantis had told the same story in Palm Beach County last Thursday. "Her daughter was in school up in Leon County, and some of the people at school decided that her daughter was really a boy and wanted to identify as a boy. So they changed her name. They changed her quote pronouns. They did these things without telling the mother, much less getting the mother's consent," said DeSantis, who is considered a potential 2024 GOP presidential candidate.

In the past, the governor's office has confirmed Desantis is referring to Littlejohn when describing a Leon County mom who had issues with the way her child's school handle her child's gender identity.

CaptainObvious on April 6th, 2022 at 12:46 UTC »

This has been a Republican tactic for years now. Trot out some bullshit email or letter from a concerned citizen, make a giant spectacle which just happens to aligns with their own personal hatred, and hope no one notices the original story never happened. I wish our media had the balls to start just calling out the lies as lies and not using watered down language when it's so fucking obvious.

steve-eldridge on April 6th, 2022 at 12:31 UTC »

Those who still think Trump will be the nominee in 2024, meet your new Republican overlord, Ron DeSantis. Also, he must be stopped from occupying the White House.

DragonTHC on April 6th, 2022 at 12:23 UTC »

So apparently the parents wrote emails asking the teachers to use the child's preferred pronouns and preferred name. When the school set up a support plan, the school didn't let the parent attend certain meetings. They sued. But if course Desantis is lying about what happened.