Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley says that a controversial parental rights bill that bans teachers from giving classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law last year needs to be more stringent.

Haley, the former South Carolina governor and former ambassador to the United Nations who launched her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination earlier this week, highlighted the controversial Florida law, which critics have dubbed the "don’t say gay" bill, in comments at a town hall in Exeter, New Hampshire on Thursday

"There was all this talk about the Florida bill — the ‘don’t say gay bill.’ Basically what it said was you shouldn’t be able to talk about gender before third grade. I’m sorry. I don’t think that goes far enough," Haley said to applause from the crowd packed into the historic town hall in Exeter.