Disney Slammed by Texas Lieutenant Governor Seeking Own 'Don't Say Gay' Law

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said his priority would be to replicate Florida's controversial "Don't Say Gay" law in Texas should he be re-elected.

The "Don't Say Gay" law, formally known as HB 1557, has caused nationwide dispute, as the law condemns the teaching of sexual orientation in classrooms for kids aged 5 to 9, and critics have said it is damaging to children that are a part of the LGBTQ+ community. The law was signed into effect last week by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

In a campaign email sent out on Monday, Patrick reportedly listed around 80 top priorities, including recreating Florida's law and monitoring school libraries, The Dallas Morning News reported.

The Morning News stated that the email began with Patrick slamming Disney for pushing back against the Florida law. Disney has stated the company plans to repeal the law in recent weeks after initially staying silent on the matter, causing a significant backlash against the company.

"I will make this law a top priority in the next session," Patrick allegedly wrote in the email. "This issue will be addressed in our interim Education Committee hearings under Parental Rights."

Newsweek has reached out to Patrick's office for comment and to access the campaign email.

A 22-page list of Patrick's interim charges shows priorities regarding the education committee, and under the topic of "Parental Empowerment," it says, "Make recommendations to enable parents to exert a greater influence on their child's learning environment, including enacting meaningful change at their public school campus or district, and affirm parents as primary decision-makers over their child's schooling options."

In addition to modeling the law after Florida's, Patrick also mentioned that he wants to enact legislation to monitor which books are made available to children in school libraries.

Patrick asked that the Senate Education Committee begin recommending measures to ensure the books in public libraries are appropriate for children, the Morning News reported.

Patrick said in a statement that the interim charges "reflect my priorities, the priorities Texans shared with me as I traveled the state and those of the members of the Texas Senate."

In November of last year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott directed education officials in the state to develop standards to prevent "obscene" books from being read in school libraries.

And in February, Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to begin investigating the families of transgender children who undergo sex-change procedures for child abuse.