LGBTQ students reported being bullied on school grounds at nearly twice the rate of their straight peers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can be a safe space, away from challenging home lives, where students can form clubs and make friends. Related: Teachers, deputized to fight the culture wars, are often reluctant to serveįor queer students, school is a place that can both hurt and heal. “I think it will affect the kids feeling that it means something is wrong with them.” “At the high school level, I think it will create anxiety and maybe hesitancy by staff to have some of the open conversations that they may have,” said Dawn Young, who is the advisor for the Queer Student Union and a mentor for students. Though the measure specifically targets curriculum and discussion in K-3 classrooms, some educators and advocates worry it could also cut LGBTQ kids in higher grades off from support. Opponents say the law will have a chilling effect. Proponents say the law is a necessary measure to ensure that parents are in charge of what their children learn about sensitive topics. Several other states led by Republicans are planning to or have already introduced similar bills. One provision allows parents to sue school districts if they believe the district has failed to follow the new law. Parents must also be notified if their children receive mental, emotional or physical health services at school, and can opt their children out of those services. Credit: Arielle Bader for The Hechinger Report. Students at Winter Park High School in Florida held a rally to protest the state’s new policy that restricts discussion of topics relating to gay, lesbian and transgender orientation and identity in school. The measure the students protested, formally known as the “Parental Rights in Education” law, bans instruction on gay, lesbian or gender identity topics from kindergarten through third grade, as well as any instruction about the topics that are not age- and developmentally appropriate at all grade levels. Now, its members have found themselves on the front lines of Florida’s ongoing attempt to restrict what can be talked about at school. “I totally felt like 50 people would show up,” Will said.Ī year ago, Winter Park High’s Queer Student Union didn’t exist. What was unexpected was just how many students actually joined them in a show of solidarity.
That act wasn’t surprising, a Queer Student Union member said. On the fringes of the crowd, a teenager danced across a rainbow flag that had been tossed in the dirt, beneath a banner that said “Pride belongs here.” Hundreds of their classmates in this Orlando suburb ended up walking out of school for nearly an hour that day, waving plastic rainbow flags and chanting “We say gay.” Videos of the walkout generated millions of views on TikTok and Twitter.īut not all the students present that day showed up in support.
Though the protest didn’t stop Florida’s governor from signing the bill into law, to the students who led the event, it was still a success. Will Larkins, a 17-year-old junior at Winter Park High School in Florida, is the head of the high school’s Queer Student Union. “For the most part, it was actually really positive,” said Echo Izzo, a 19-year-old senior who was near the front of the group that day.