Around 100 people took to the streets in Florida to protest a bill that would restrict LGBTQ-inclusive teaching in schools.
On 1 February, a crowd of mostly students gathered outside the Pride Center in Wilton Manors, Florida to challenge what is being referred to as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
“A school district may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age appropriate,” part of the legislation reads.
Lana Goff, an 11th grader in the state, attended the protest and told CBS Miami that she “first came out” in 7th grade.
“It just should be more normalised and talked about in class and not, ‘that’s kind of a touchy subject, let’s not talk about this,’” she added.
The bill, which is part of a Parental Rights in Education proposal, is being sponsored by Republican State Senator Dennis Baxley.
"School boards should be encouraging these kinds of discussions so kids can talk about themselves and their families in an open way and see that every family is equal."
A Florida dad warns that the "Don't Say Gay or Trans" bill would harm all students, not just LGBTQ+ kids. pic.twitter.com/8NCb2zyBzd
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) January 30, 2022
He said: “Obviously there will be generic discussions about life in their dialogue. There’s no effort to squash that.”
The 69-year-old further explained that the bill aims to give parents the right to have a say in what their children learn at school.
“Parents have the primary role in leading the development of their children,” he continued. “It’s important that we’re not using school time to work social agendas and social engineering.”
LGBTQ+ activists are fearful that if House Bill 1557 is signed into law, it could have the power to totally limit any discussions or lessons on identity, the community’s history and the oppression it has faced.
“It’s a radical roll back of the calendar,” said Scott Galvin, the Executive Director of Safe Schools South Florida.
“It will stop teachers and schools from talking to kids about LGBTQ issues and it will stop them from talking about gay issues among themselves,” he added.
The bill was recently passed in the House Education and Employment Committee and will now go through the Judiciary Committee.
It has not yet been introduced to the Senate.
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