Florida schools to censor "racy & sexual" content from Shakespeare works

by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

Teaching the works of Shakespeare in Florida schools will look a lot different than in past years. Schools are planning to only show excerpts of works by Shakespeare to students, in a bid to avoid “racy or sexual” content in his plays.

The Parental Rights in Education Act requires that material that is sexual in nature should solely be used in classes dedicated to sexual health or reproduction. The legislation has become commonly known as the “don’t say gay” law due to its crackdown on teaching about gender and LGBTQ+ issues. It prevents public schools from adopting procedures or support for students that maintain confidentiality, including over their sexual orientation or gender identity.

One teacher, Joseph Cool, calls the decision “absurd”. He told news outlets, “I think the rest of the nation – no, the world, is laughing us. Taking Shakespeare in its entirety out because the relationship between Romeo and Juliet is somehow exploiting minors is just absurd.”

Thankfully, not all counties in Florida are following suit. Chris Petley, a spokesperson for Leon County Schools, said the district ultimately decided not to restrict Shakespeare’s works.

But it’s easy to see why many school boards are either enforcing or considering censoring the Bard. Violation of the law can result in a school district being ordered to pay "damages and reasonable attorney fees and court costs."

While I can see why school boards are being overly cautious, I think this move is ridiculous. In my opinion, there isn’t a single Shakespeare work that would be considered inappropriate for high school students. Would “Romeo & Juliet” be appropriate for a third-grade class? No. But what Shakespeare work would be?

Stripping the full text of his play for students, does nothing but hinder the study of his work and could be detrimental to aspiring performing arts students. By the time I graduated from high school, I had read three of his plays in English and Literature classes and performed in two of them in my drama department. That experience was incredibly impactful to my learning of language arts and only further stoked my interest in theatre.

My other question is that if they are censoring the texts for classes, would the same apply to performances? Would school productions of Shakespeare works have to censor entire sections of the script to adhere to this law? I can’t imagine what a production of “Macbeth” or “Romeo & Juliet” would look like if they had to do that. Or, even worse, if this would prevent schools from performing Shakespeare at all.

It’s an absolute shame that Florida students will not be afforded the same opportunities this coming fall due to ridiculous and callous legislation.