One of the most popular academic courses in Florida, AP Psychology, was taken by more than 28,000 high school students last year. Recently, Florida has been dealing with new restrictions on AP Psychology courses because the curriculum includes LGBTQ-related sexual orientation and gender content.

The Florida Department of Education prohibited the teaching of AP Psychology for the entire month of August. Cassie Palelis, speaker of the Florida Department of Education, said  “These topics are now illegal under the ‘Don’t confirm the intention to restrict the subject,’” saying that she was trying to force school districts to abide by the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

“It’s absurd,” Mr. Luong, AP Psychology teacher at MKHS, states. “For teachers in Florida, it means that they have to be self-corruptive to the point where they almost have to censor themselves. Many of the topics are allegedly banned from classroom; it undergirds all of the talks of psychological and you can’t teach psychology without talking about the topics that are banned. 

Even though the College Board will approve the course if it excludes LGBTQ information, they continue to disagree about sex and gender influence socialization, which is why six Florida schools are still not offering the course. The choice to substitute another college-level subject for AP Psychology was made by official institutions like the Flagler schools and Hillsborough County Public Schools.  Many teachers from Florida that taught AP Psychology were upset that they are now forced to teach alternative classes. 

 The themes of sexual orientation and gender identity have been covered in the AP Psychology course since its inception 30 years ago. 

 Mr. Luong said that students should be allowed to learn about a variety of topics as well as self-evaluations in order to change and grow. “How can they grow without some type of talking about setbacks?” he asked.

 The decision to ban the course was disputed in Florida by the Department of Education. The College Board replied by saying, “We now hope that Florida teachers will be able to teach the full course, including content on gender and sexual orientation, without fear of punishment in the upcoming school year.” As a result, parents can still decide whether their children attend the course by suing the district. AP Psychology is still listed in the Florida subject Directory for the academic year 2023–2024, however many districts will continue to not offer the subject.