FL Teacher Who Showed Disney Movie 'Strange World' With Gay Character Under Investigation

HERNANDO COUNTY, FL — A fifth-grade teacher in Hernando County is under investigation by the Florida Department of Education after showing her students an animated Disney film, according to multiple reports.

Jenna Barbee recently showed the movie “Strange World,” released by Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2022, to her students at Winding Waters K-8. She said she was reported to the FDE by a conservative Hernando County School Board member, Shannon Rodriguez, The Advocate reported.

The PG-rated movie, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, is Disney’s first to feature an openly gay character. In the film, a key plot for teenager Ethan Clade, voiced by gay comedian Jaboukie Young-White, focuses on his crush on another boy, Diazo.

• Also Read: FL Senate Passes 'Don't Say Gay' Expansion, Bars Diversity In Colleges

Under a Florida law, classroom discussion or instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity is banned. The Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by its critics, initially limited classroom conversations on these topics only for students in grades K-3 when it was passed last year. An expansion of this law, passed earlier this month, prohibits these topics for grades 4-12, as well.

Barbee, who noted that "Strange World" doesn't include any sexual content, said she chose the film because it tied in with an Earth Science class, according to WESH.

"The word 'indoctrination' is thrown around a lot right now, but it seems that those who are using it are using it as a defense tactic for their own fear-based beliefs without understanding the true meaning of the word," Barbeee said at a recent Hernando County School Board meeting.

She also addressed Rodriguez at the meeting, according to CNN.

“A school board member, an elected official of power, who was supposed to be nonpartisan, is allowed to present to the public that she is Christian and that God appointed her to the board. And yet it is indoctrinated that I showed a Disney movie. I’m a first-year teacher,” she said.

The teacher said Rodriguez, who has a teacher in her class, “came to my school and took me away from my students to tell me how bad and wrong I was.”

The school board member said Barbee violated school policy by not getting the film approved by administration before showing it to students, according to reports.

Barbee said she had signed permission slips from all the parents, allowing her students to watch a movie rated PG.

“It is not a teacher’s job to impose their beliefs upon a child: religious, sexual orientation, gender identity, any of the above,” Rodriguez said. “But allowing movies such as this, assist teachers in opening a door, and please hear me, they assist teachers in opening the door for conversations that have no place in our classrooms.”