GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ‘don’t say gay’ bill for not going far enough.
The controversial bill signed into law by DeSantis last year bans discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools through the third grade. But Haley said DeSantis should have done more.
“Basically what it said was you shouldn’t be able to talk about gender before third grade. I’m sorry. I don’t think that goes far enough,” Haley said at a town hall in Exeter, New Hampshire on Thursday. “When I was in school you didn’t have sex ed until 7th grade. And even then, your parents had to sign whether you could take the class. That’s a decision for parents to make.”
Haley doubled down in an interview with Fox News after the town hall, telling the outlet: “I think Ron’s been a good governor. I just think that third grade’s too young. We should not be talking to kids in elementary school about gender, period.”
“If you are going to talk to kids about it, you need to get the parents’ permission to do that,” she continued. “That is something between a parent and a child. That is not something that schools need to be teaching. Schools need to be teaching reading and math and science. They don’t need to be teaching whether they think you’re a boy or a girl.”
Haley was the second major candidate to jump into race after Donald Trump. It is widely expected that DeSantis will seek the nomination as well as his popularity has soar among Republicans as he engages in meaningless culture wars.
Polling so far has consistently show Trump and DeSantis leading the GOP primary field.
[Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]
