Florida teacher under investigation for showing Disney movie with gay character says she didn’t know LGBTQ restriction applied to her class

A Florida teacher under a state investigation for showing a Disney movie featuring a gay character said she wasn’t aware the state’s controversial law banning instruction about certain LGBTQ topics had been recently expanded to apply to her grade level.

The legislation was first passed in March 2022 and initially applied to kindergarten through third grade. Last month, Florida’s state education board voted to expand the law’s scope to include all grades through high school. Teachers who violate the state policy can be suspended or have their teaching licenses revoked.

Florida bans teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation through 12th grade

“I just found out today that they increased it to my level,” the fifth-grade teacher, Jenna Barbee told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota Monday night. “I had no idea whatsoever that this was such a big deal.”

Barbee says she played the 2022 animated Disney movie “Strange World” to a classroom of fifth graders while their peers were finishing some standardized testing.

The Disney film tells the story of a family of explorers and features a gay character.