The White House and Democrats are once again misleading Americans about a law in Florida that sets parameters for teaching about “sexual orientation or gender identity.” If the law is so terrible, so bigoted, though, why do they need to keep doing so?

“Under threat of having their licenses revoked,” the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said last week, “gay teachers have been forced to take down pictures of their spouses from their desks…”

This is not true, as scores of journalists and pundits were quick to point out, but the tall tale made it around the world before the truth could catch up with it. This has often been the case with what Ms. Pierre referred to as “the state’s dystopian ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law.”

That moniker itself is a study in disinformation., rebranding legislation that doesn’t even mention the word “gay.” It would be more difficult to whip up voters, not to mention raise campaign cash, however, by using its anodyne title: Parental Rights in Education.

The law “requires such procedures to reinforce fundamental rights of parents to make decisions regarding upbringing & control of their children” and “prohibits school district personnel from discouraging or prohibiting parental notification & involvement in critical decisions affecting student’s mental, emotional, or physical well-being.”

These were once standard expectations when entrusting children to schools. The law simply confirms that while teachers often refer to students as their “kids,” the ultimate responsibility for their education resides with parents who love them in ways government employees never could.

“I would argue,” Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, told Fox Nation, “it’s never appropriate to be telling a school kid that they were born in the wrong body,” and suggested to opponents that this “is not a good hill for you guys to pick to die on.”

So, when the hill doesn’t cooperate, you try to move it. “As this measure takes effect,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said, “it will prohibit all students, up to seniors in high school, from learning about our — learning about or discussing LGBTQI+ people in the classrooms.”

This, again, is not in the law, which covers students from kindergarten through third grade. According to a poll by Public Opinion Strategies, Americans agree with what the legislation says on paper 61 percent to 26 percent — including 55 percent of registered Democrats — so there’s no way to serve up political whoppers by sticking to the facts.

Another claim against the law is that it forces schools to “out” students. This refers to an amendment withdrawn by a Republican state representative in Florida, Joseph Harding, who said “the exaggeration and misrepresentation in reporting about the amendment was a distraction.”

Another myth is that Florida’s law resulted in book bans, with a since-debunked photo showing ominous empty library shelves. In response to this charge, Mr. DeSantis shared pornographic, violent, and other content that wasn’t age appropriate that had been removed from two dozen school districts.

Sharing such material with small children — which all Americans agreed was wrong to do not so long ago — isn’t the sort of issue that wins elections, so these facts, too, were bent, broken, and swept aside in favor of the more dire narrative.

The law’s provision that “prohibits classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels” is broad enough to invite concerns, so the honest thing to do is focus on that, not to invent a monster under the bed that doesn’t exist.

The exaggerations about Florida’s law are politics at its worst, seeking to bloody a potential presidential candidate, Mr. DeSantis, by terrifying children and putting marginalized groups in fear for their jobs rather than raise legitimate objections to the legislation he signed.  

“President Biden,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said, “believes teachers and students should not be pawns in a political game or a political stunt.” On this, she’s right. Children in Florida are indeed being played with, but are those peddling the falsehoods the chess masters or the legislators trying to put education first?