Under the Equal Access Act, schools that offer extra curricular activities cannot deny students the right to form a club based on their religious, political, philosophical point of view. For example, he notes, there’s no need for schools to roll back GSAs. He notes that the bill has opened the door to making it easier for conservative parents to complain and start unfounded lawsuits.Īt the moment, Saunders highlights the importance of organizing and showing up for school board meetings to push back against parents who are raising complaints against school districts trying to provide safe spaces for LBGTQ youth.
As such Equality Florida works with school districts to build safe environments. Equality Florida realized that one of the best ways to combat homophobia is through education. The program was founded in the wake of a 2016 shooting, where an armed man killed 49 people at a gay night club in Orlando. Third, Equality Florida is doubling down on its safe and healthy schools program. “The legislature is being held hostage by Trump style politics,” he says. In 2018, 18 Republicans backed the Competitive Work Act, which looked to protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination, and in 2020 59% of Republican voters said they supported it. He notes that a few years ago Florida was leading the country in terms of bipartisan support for LGBTQ legislation. Saunders points out that DeSantis only won Florida’s governorship by 30,000 votes or 0.5%. In a recent poll, DeSantis came out as the first choice for Republican voters for a presidential primary, with 44% compared to Trump at 41%. Saunders sees “Don’t Say Gay” as part of DeSantis’s bid for presidency. Second, Equality Florida is focused on the midterm elections. “This is a key moment in history that’s going to be a turning point and fighting for LGBTQ rights is the heart of it,” Willingham-Jaggers says.Įnter quote”Nothing in these laws requires the kind of censorship we’re seeing.”” Joe For example, last month in Massachusetts, two sets of parents sued middle school teachers and administrators for failing to disclose their children’s desire to use new names and pronouns. The reach of Flordia’s bill are stretching beyond Florida all the way to traditionally blue states. Since then, the chilling effect has only gotten worse, including books being removed from shelves and a move to censor images of student protests in yearbooks.
She’s been hearing confusion and fear from teachers for months, including a teacher whose principal met them after school to help identify problematic material in their classroom a month before the bill had passed. Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, is the executive director of Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN). Even before the bill had passed, it had a chilling effect in schools. Parents can sue any school district in violation of the bill. But the part of the bill that’s drawn the most criticism (and earned the name Don’t Say Gay”) is its limits on instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade. In March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the “ parental rights in education bill” which requires parents to be notified if there’s a change in a student’s mental, emotional, physical health or well-being, and allows them to opt out of counseling and health services.
“We’re going into a war where we don’t know what the enemy is going to do next and it’s a really struggle to figure out what we can do,” he says. He knows it’s not the same across Florida.
He’s got a supportive administration who are trying to figure out how to maintain safe spaces without getting in trouble rather than how to eradicate them.