Jean-Pierre faces blowback for 'disprovable lies' about Florida education law: 'Red herrings all the way down' | Fox News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that the expansion of Floridas "dystopian" education law prevents gay teachers from showing their spouses.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was blasted on social media for calling Florida's education law "dystopian," claiming gay teachers cannot show pictures of their spouses anymore.
Prior to answering questions at Thursday's press conference, Jean-Pierre addressed the Florida Board of Education's recent expansion of Gov. Ron DeSantis', R-Fla., Parental Rights in Education law from kindergarten through 3rd grade to all grades. This law would prevent school employees from giving instruction on "sexual orientation" or "gender identity" unless required by state guidelines or part of optional sexual health instruction.
Jean-Pierre referred to this law as the "dystopian Don't Say Gay law" and claimed that gay teachers have been forced to remove pictures of their spouses as a response.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing at the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 20, 2023.(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
"I also want to say a word about the decision yesterday made by the Florida Board of Education to expand the state's dystopian Don't Say Gay law. As this measure takes effect, it will prohibit all students up to seniors in high school from learning about our, or, learning about or even discussing LGBTQI+ people in the classrooms," Jean-Pierre said.
She continued, "Teachers in Florida have already faced the devastating consequences of the existing law. Under threat of having their licenses revoked, gay teachers have been forced to take down pictures of their spouses from their desks and censor their classroom materials. Censoring our classes is not how public education is supposed to work in a free country. Conservative politicians love to complain about the so-called cancel culture, all while threatening teachers with losing their jobs if they teach something that the MAGA extremists don't agree with."
This description of the law faced pushback on Twitter as "disprovable lies."
Opposition Democrats and LGBTQ rights activists have lobbied against what they call the "Don't Say Gay" law.(Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Political consultant Noah Pollak wrote, "All of her claims here are easily disprovable lies, but what's interesting is how progressives are unable to defend their culture war on anything close to the merits. It's red herrings all the way down."
"The fact that the press secretary lies daily doesn't seem to bother liberals," National Review contributor Pradheep Shanker exclaimed.
"This is, of course, a lie," Substack writer Jim Treacher wrote.
"Putting aside that this is just not true, does anyone over 40 remember discussing sexuality, gender or any of this stuff with their teachers growing up? It's laughably ridiculous. Back in my day we did math, science and social studies. You know, old fashioned racist stuff. And we had to walk up hill in the snow both ways without shoes to get to school. Now get off my lawn!" political commentator Dave Rubin tweeted.
"Remember WH Press Briefing live all hands on deck fact checks? I 'member," The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller commented.
NewsNation reporter Zaid Jilani wrote, "There's a reasonable debate to be had about what should and shouldn't be promoted in public schools, but it feels like a lot of these debates are based on things that don't exist?"
Since the law was introduced in 2022, Democrats and members of the media have dubbed it as the "Don't Say Gay" law, claiming that the law censors any discussion of being gay in schools.
DeSantis has shot back at media critics of the law for mischaracterizing the law.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis attacked media critics for "mischaracterizing" the Parental Rights in Education bill.(Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
"I would argue it's never appropriate to be telling a school kid that they were born in the wrong body," DeSantis said on Fox Nation. "I didn't think that it was going to end up what it was, and I was just in a situation where I'm like, you know, this is not a good hill for you guys to pick to die on... What we did is we leaned into it. We called out the media when they were mischaracterizing it, so we made sure that we stood up for the folks."
Karine Jean-Pierre has gone from being unprepared to outright lying
I have stopped watching her press conferences- does she have to refer to her binder to lie? Or has she developed the ability to tell her own lies?
I liked when she used to leave it to the Justice Department to answer a question.
For the most part, I've stopped watching them, too. Her eyes are almost always looking down into her binder rather than at the reporter asking the question.
She essentially says "I have nothing to read on that" when asked a tough question. It's sad and funny at the same time.
She’s probably waiting to circle back around to it ......
Nah. That was Peppermint Patty ... current MSNBC *journalist*. The Binder just knows how to read papers that others prepare for her.
Yep, a problem that starts at the top of that administration.
Seems like only yesterday when we had real-time fact checkers during the WH press conferences...
Remember that? We also had fake reporters debating the President's policy.
Not to mention all the "experts" here on NT who were quick to tell all about the latest set of lies... They sure are quiet now..
YOU BET!
I don't know about anyone else, but I've never known of any teacher - gay or straight - showing pictures of his or her spouse to students. What educational purpose does that serve?
I luckily had teachers who focused on things like math and reading.
They didn't view their job as turning students into a captive audience for their one person stage production on their personal life.
Same here. Luckily, my kids escaped DEI indoctrination, too.
It's clear she (and everybody else on the left) doesn't have a clue what the legislation actually is.
KJP, the WH mouthpiece, is still calling it the "Don't Say Gay Bill" and that tells us all we need to know about her radical disinformation agenda.
The "We" you speak of is an old dying breed.
Younger generations want to be freed from!
De Santis's anti-LGBTQ laws are unpopular...
Hilarious comment!
As you accuse me of being "an old dying breed" without any evidence, you align yourself with younger generationS who want to be free. No one, except tens of thousands of illegal alien children, are being enslaved in the US, JBB, and that onus rests squarely on Biden's shoulders, not DeSantis' shoulders.
Thanks for perfectly illustrating my point!
Surely, you jest, but I'll give you an opportunity to explain your unusual rationale. Please proceed and explain yourself.
And the liberal, uninformed mouthpieces here on NT parrot it the same way.
Only among the fools that want everybody to play the same game as those with mental health issues.
No, they are unpopular with most voters!
Believe what you want. The gop is losing...
In comment 3.1.4 I requested an explanation from you. Will you answer or not?
So, you have no answer or explanation. No problem!
It's hilarious you think I'm going to take your word for it.
Let's see. The so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill was passed and signed in March, 2022. DeSantis won re-election in November, 2022 by a large margin of 19 points.
Yep, it sure was unpopular with most voters...
In his head it was. But he can't justify the claim by any means.
Seems to be a standard for way too many here on NT. Drop some outlandish bullshit, perform a drive-by snark, claim anything they want. But never provide any evidence for what they are saying... It gets very tiring, I came here to discuss topics with other people in order to expand my way of thinking and my knowledge of the world around me and instead all i get is a chorus of "Nuh uh's".
lol
Look who is talking and look who is defending you/defending the indefensible
As usual
Show us some facts to prove your claim. The majority of voters don't support this all in position of the Dems on their misguided attempts to normalize the behavior of some
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Many on the left have been forced to outright LIE about the law.
Someone told them the bill said "Don't say gay" and instead of looking at the law itself, they decided it was somehow smarter to listen to someone telling them what they really wanted to hear.
After all, if they learned what the law really said, what then could they be outraged about?
Yup, that's all Jeremy does.
You have been wrong before but this is really wrong. Way to miss the point however...
Yea that's why he won Florida by 20 percent.
Unpopular my ass!!
Florida voters are the only ones that should care about this. I have lived in Florida almost my whole life and I am grateful for this governor.
Sure beats the hell out of losers like Newsom.
Lets see you do something you haven't done, EVER - Prove me wrong.
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