College Board AP program vs Florida Laws

Should the college level curriculum omit gender and sexuality topics as required by Florida law?

I don't feel like they should change the curriculum, and I feel like the FL legislature is really taking away the choice for students and parents to have access to these high level classes and putting FL students at an educational disadvantage.

Excerpts from the news article below.

Florida last month implored the College Board to consider modifying Advanced Placement courses with lessons that might run afoul of new state rules banning classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The College Board on Thursday said no.

The organization, in a letter sent to AP teachers, said it was “heartbroken” by the possibility that Florida students might not be able to take AP psychology, which includes a unit on gender and sexual orientation.

“We have learned from our mistakes in the recent rollout of AP African American studies and know that we must be clear the outset where we stand,” the College Board letter said. “We will not modify our courses to accommodate restrictions on teaching essential, college-level topics. Doing so would break the fundament promise of AP.”

The organization said topics on gender and sexual orientation “must remain a required topic, just as it has been in Florida since the launch of AP Psychology more than 30 years ago.”

Arthur Evans, the psychological association’s CEO, in a statement Thursday said the association applauds the College Board for “standing up to the state of Florida and its unconscionable demand to censor an educational curriculum and test that were designed by college faculty and experienced AP teachers.”

The unit on gender and sexual orientation is an “important body of science,” he said, and needs to remain in a college-level psychology course. “This law is yet another attempt to erase LGBTQ+ people from public view based on biased thinking and irrational fear,” he added.