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FL Ban On Teaching Sexual Orientation, Gender Poised To Expand; Demonstrators Block Airport, Clog Streets In France; CDC: Pediatric Autism More Common Than Previously Thought. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired March 23, 2023 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:33:55]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: In a matter of weeks, Florida teachers may find themselves even more restricted on what they can say about gender identity and sexual orientation in their classrooms.
The State Board of Education is proposing a new rule that would expand a 2022 law that bars the teaching of those topics for students from kindergarten to third grade.
Under the new guidelines, that ban would extend all the way to 12th grade. And teachers who violate the rules could lose their license.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Today, Florida's top education administrator defended the move.
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MANNY DIAZ, EDUCATION COMMISSIONER OF FLORIDA: Really looking at in the rule is to avoid the confusion, provide clarity for teachers on the instruction.
This rule basically says that we're sticking to the standards. And when you're talking about K through 12 instructions, all the way through 12th grade.
These standards don't incorporate gender ideology or any of these theories in math, social studies reading or anything else.
We preserve the health standards. And that provides it, makes it clear for teachers what it is because there are a lot of questions about age appropriate. Well, this clarifies it for everyone.
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[14:35:00]
DEAN: Brandon Wolf is the press secretary for Equality Florida, which is the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in that state.
Brandon, nice to see you. Thanks for making time this afternoon.
Walk us through what concerns you most about this law.
BRANDON WOLF, PRESS SECRETARY, EQUALITY FLORIDA: Well, there are a number of terrible things that are a part of this proposal.
Number one is that it targets individual educators. If you remember, last year, when we were debating the initial law, we were told that this was really narrowly focused on holding school districts accountable.
But as proposed, this new state Board of Education policy would actually make teachers individually liable, putting their professional licenses on the line.
This comes at a time when we already have 8,000 vacant teacher positions in the state of Florida, largely because they have undergone character assassination over the last couple of years.
And it's interesting that the commission, education commissioner there, Manny Diaz, talked about clarifying things.
Because what the state Board of Education and the Department of Education, as a whole, has refused to do is clarify the vague language that's originally in this law that has led to books being banned.
That has led to censorship of rainbow safe space stickers in classrooms, that lead to places like Miami-Dade, refusing to recognize LGBTQ history month.
They've been asked to define what classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity means and they have refused to at every step of the way.
But instead, they're going to impose new restrictions, are going to impose new liability on individual educators threatening their livelihoods for something they themselves refused to define in law.
SANCHEZ: Brandon, I'm wondering what you make of the argument from Ron DeSantis and his allies that conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation are best had by parents at home with kids and not in class with their teachers.
WOLF: Well listen, I think everyone wants parents to be deeply involved in education. I know my education was at its best when my parents were deeply involved, were showing up to after-school activities and parent-teacher conferences.
But ask yourself what those words actually mean, "sexual orientation and gender identity." And what a blanket prohibition on any instruction, incorporating those topics might look like.
Does that mean that, for instance, Romeo and Juliet will no longer be allowed to be discussed in classrooms? What about any other book that features, you know, a mom and a dad or two moms or two dads?
You know, think about the first grade reading book that's been recommended by the state of Florida that includes Benjamin Franklin and talks about his relationship with his wife.
When you start to talk about a blanket prohibition on acknowledging that people fall in love with other people, and that people have families, you can see why we've ended up in a place where you know there are upwards of 100 or 200 books being challenged in in school districts across the state.
You can see why we're in a place where a book like "And Tango Makes Three," which is the animated retelling of a true story from the Central Park Zoo of two male penguins raising a chick together, why that book has been challenged and banned in a number of school districts across the state.
You can see why, in a free state, as Ron DeSantis likes to say it, like Florida, people are concerned about banning books and censoring history and curriculum.
Because when you put in a blanket prohibition on topics of sexual orientation and gender identity, what you're really saying is that teachers can no longer or should no longer feel comfortable talking about the realities of our society and our families.
DEAN: So it sounds like, Brandon, based on what you're saying that this specifically comes down to like the specificity around this, that it's that it's loosely defined, and this has a chilling effect on educators.
Is that what you're saying?
WOLF: Yes, well, we've gone - we've undergone a year of that chilling effect. And I think that's why people are so frustrated. I'm frustrated for parents and families in Florida who've been lied to for a year who've been gaslit.
In the very beginning, we were told that this bill was narrow in scope, that it was only intended to do a handful of things. But that the language had to remain vague and broad on purpose.
And as a result, we've watched, as again, Miami-Dade County refused to recognize LGBTQ history month or, you know when we saw yearbooks trying to be censored in Orange County, when we saw teachers in in Orange County being told to hide family photos in their desks.
All of that, all of those chilling effects have been in direct response to this law, which the State Department - which the Department of Education refuses to clarify the language of.
And then comes out and says not only will we not clarify the language, but we're actually going to expand the prohibition, k to 12th grade, and put legal liability on individual educators.
SANCHEZ: I think it's important to mention, too, that this is being approved not by state lawmakers at the statehouse but rather by the Board of Educators, all of which were appointed by Ron DeSantis.
That vote scheduled for April 19th. [14:40:00]
Brandon Wolf, thank you so much for the time.
WOLF: Thank you.
DEAN: Thousands of police officers set up across France as protesters filled the streets there today. Some demonstrators even blocking the access to the nation's biggest airport. We're live from Paris next.
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DEAN: Trying to get around to anywhere in France today was made difficult, if not impossible, in some areas by another day of French workers striking and against an increase in the retirement age in that country.
Today, they targeted France's transport networks, oil refineries and schools.
SANCHEZ: And check out this video. You can see protesters are actually blocking access to Charles De Gaulle Airport this morning. This is one of the busiest airports in the world.
[14:45:06]
Today's long demonstrations are in response to the country's controversial new plan that raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.
We go live to Paris now and CNN's Sam Kiley.
And, Sam, some of the unions that have been involved in these demonstrations were getting concerned that the protests may get more violent if there isn't a direct response from the government.
SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, it has been a degree of violence -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
KILEY: We apologize for the fruity language there.
This is a very angry crowd, though that has been gathering a million and 89 - sorry, buddy, could you just.
(SHOUTING)
KILEY: OK, we're going to have to - I'll keep talking. They continue.
(SHOUTING) KILEY: So as you can see, the population here of this crowd is angry.
They're angry, they say, over the decision by the Macron government to force through the legislation last Thursday against what they feared would be a loss in favor of it at the national assembly.
In other words, they didn't think that they would get it onto the statute but without presidential fear. This has sparked what is now the sixth day of demonstrations.
This was an organized demonstration by the unions. According to the interior ministry, a million and 89,000 people came out onto the streets across France.
This demonstration, the authorities say, had about 120,000 people in it. There has been some violence and burning of kiosks and chucking of rocks at the police. The police have responded with tear gas.
And at this stage, though, the demonstration appears to be coming to an end after a lot of kind of back and forth between the demonstrators and the police.
There is a rump element always at the end of these demonstrations, who perhaps have come out more for a fight, than to make their political views known.
But that is also not to undermine the widespread anger that exists about these reforms coming across France. Regular opinion polls show about two-thirds of the population are against Macron's reforms.
But he said in interviews recently with the French media that there was going to be no U-turn, that this reform of the pensions, whatever happens on the streets here, is going through, according to Macron.
Back to you.
SANCHEZ: Sam Kiley, displaying incredible focus as there are explosions and people yelling around him. Fantastic live shot from our colleague.
DEAN: Sam, thank you.
SANCHEZ: Yes, thank you so much.
Similar scenes are actually playing out in Israel for very different reasons.
Police did turn water cannons on protesters in Tel Aviv today as hundreds of thousands of demonstrators again took to the streets across the country.
DEAN: They're protesting the government's plan to take greater control over the country's courts.
And today, Israel's parliament passed the first of several of those laws. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition approved this legislation in a 61 to 47 vote that would protect the Israeli leader from being deemed unfit to govern.
Netanyahu is expected to speak, at some point today, leading to some speculation he may delay parts of this divisive program.
SANCHEZ: Still ahead, a new study finds that autism among kids is more prevalent than we previously thought. We have details next.
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DEAN: A new CDC report reveals the number of children with autism. The United States may be higher than previously thought. This report finding one out of every 36 children are diagnosed with the disorder. That is up from one in 44.
SANCHEZ: CNN health reporter, Elizabeth Cohen, is following this for us.
Elizabeth, why is this subject taking place?
DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, most of the experts for us will tell you that it's not because autism itself is going up. They don't think that's the issue.
What they think is the issue - and this is actually in some ways a good thing - is that doctors are getting better at diagnosing it. They're getting better at diagnosing autism, and they're getting better at diagnosing it earlier.
And they're also getting better at diagnosing it in children of color. This has been a real problem with autism - there was clearly children of color with autism who were being missed for all sorts of reasons.
And doctors have been told to get better about this, and, in fact, those numbers are, indeed, getting better.
But still, it's thought that autism does get missed in general and children of, you know, throughout the population. So in a way, seeing these rates tick up in some ways is a good thing.
DEAN: Yes, Elizabeth. It's kind of counterintuitive when you hear it. At first, you think, oh, no, this is terrible.
But in a way, well, what you're saying, it makes so much sense that they're catching this earlier, and they're identifying it as more children that have been struggling without a diagnosis.
So Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much for explaining that for us.
SANCHEZ: There was a dramatic rescue that we want to share with you in New York after a group of kids got stuck in the city's sewer system.
Five boys crawled in through a storm drain on Staten island on Wednesday evening, guided only by the light from a single cell phone. And that phone potentially saved their lives after it somehow picked up a signal 40 Feet underground.
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[14:55:07]
OPERATOR: What's the address in Staten Island?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: We don't know.
OPERATOR: You don't know?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Yes, we're like - we're stuck in the sewers.
OPERATOR: You're stuck where?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: In the sewers.
OPERATOR: We're going to get you some help. OK?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I hear something.
OPERATOR: Hang on here. You're fine.
I want you guys to scream. Call for help, guys. They hear you. Call for help.
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DEAN: Wow. Oh, my gosh. Rescue officials say they searched nearly a dozen storm drains before finding the boys. And thankfully, everybody, all those all five of those kids were fined.
One firefighter, though, was injured in the rescue and had to be taken to the hospital. But overall, sounds like a successful safety mission.
Boris, you couldn't pay me to climb into the sewer drain.
SANCHEZ: I keep thinking, what were they looking for down there. And then I remember, when I was a young boy as well, getting into all sorts of hijinks.
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DEAN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: So we've got a lot to bring you in the next hour of the NEWSROOM. The CEO of TikTok was grilled on Capitol Hill today. One lawmaker saying the platform is, quote, "literally leading to death." Some fiery back and forth when we come back.
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