The under-secretary for education, Rossano Sasso, said the bill was intended to prevent younger children from being taught theories that caused confusion while requiring parental consent for sex education to be taught to older children.

“With this law, we are saying goodbye to gender ideology and the woke bubble,” he told the lower house. “Political activists will no longer be allowed to engage in political propaganda in schools.” He argued that without such oversight, leftwing politicians would “bring drag queens and porn actors into schools” to talk to children about “sexual fluidity and surrogate motherhood”.