The Bt Gay-Friendly Schools

Contents:

• AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS
• COMG OUT AS GAY IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
• THE BT GAY-FRIENDLY SCHOOLS
• FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'
• GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS

”Many LGBTQ stunts report that a support system or an ally—whether a fay member, iend, teacher or guidance unselor—is often valuable helpg them navigate their school, pecially given the negative impacts LGBTQ stunts n fact, the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network (GLSEN) reports their 2017 Natnal School Climate Survey that negative school environments where stunts experience victimizatn and discrimatn bee of their genr or sexualy n adversely affect them. ”El also noted that, while they live Massachetts and their school’s curriculum is not affected by "no promo homo" laws, which prohib teachers om discsg LGBTQ issu, the state's specifilly clive curriculum n vary between teacher to teacher, and those who tght ma them feel validated.

Florida recently (March 28, 2022) passed the famo “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibs stctn about gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr, and queer (GLBTQ) people until the fourth gra and other stat are followg su. Here are six reasons why “don’t say gay” bills are wrong and why we need LGBTQ-clive tn at all gra levels.

COMG OUT AS GAY IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

This n also protect them om later engagg dangero behavrs that rult om homophobia cludg dg and alhol abe, skippg school, and self-harm. As Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn law — or what crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law — go to effect Friday, some of the state’s public school districts have begun rollg out new polici to lim LGBTQ issu and inti om beg discsed the Tuday night, the Leon County School Board unanimoly approved s “LGBTQ Inclive School Gui, ” which clus a provisn to alert parents if a stunt who is “open about their genr inty” is their child’s physil tn class or wh them on an overnight school trip.

Clifford / AP fileThe so-lled Don’t Say Gay law, HB 1557, bans “stctn” about sexual orientatn or genr inty “ krgarten through gra 3 or a manner that is not age appropriate or velopmentally appropriate for stunts acrdance wh state standards. ” A provisn the law also requir school staff members to alert parents about “cril cisns affectg a stunt’s mental, emotnal, or physil health or well-beg, ” which many advot have terpreted as a way to force tors to out their gay or trans stunts. They have also ntend that will not prohib teachers and stunts om talkg about their LGBTQ fai or bar classroom discsns about LGBTQ history, cludg events like the 2016 attack at the Pulse gay nightclub crics and legal experts have said the broad language of the law uld open school districts and teachers to lawsus om parents who believe any nversatn about LGBTQ people or issu is “not age appropriate.

Carlos Smh, a Democrat who is gay and has been an outspoken cric of the new law, said he was “not surprised” that schools the state were announcg the polici and guil. “What’s happeng right now — wh the censorship of rabow flags and school districts preparg to basilly ph LGBTQ stunts and teachers to the closet — is exactly what we said would happen wh the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. "Members and supporters of the LGBTQ muny at the "Say Gay Anyway" rally Miami Beach, Fla., on March 13.

THE BT GAY-FRIENDLY SCHOOLS

Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty Imag fileFive other stat — all of them the South — have enacted laws that lim stctn or discsns about LGBTQ people or issu school, and at least 32 others have proposed such measur this year, acrdg to acrdg to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ thk tank that has been trackg the strsed that the polici will have nsequenc for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer stunts, potg to the disproportnately high rat of suici attempts among the untry’s LGBTQ youths. ”In Palm Beach County, Woods, who is gay, said that after they received the qutnnaire om school officials to flag urse material or books wh LGBTQ referenc, many of his lleagu are nervo they’ll be reprimand if they miss somethg.

FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'

Stunts at a high school near Jacksonville, Florida, were acced several weeks ago of harassg classmat a Gay Straight Alliance club and stompg on pri flags. “For me, when a teacher put up that sticker, basilly nveyed the msage that ‘when you e here, you will not be hated for who you love or what you intify as, ’” said Frsto, who is gay.

Frsto, who is the print of his school’s Gay Straight Alliance, or GSA, said the rabow stickers were removed overnight whout warng. “As a gay man wh no children and no real sire to have children, I feel like I should never know the nam of the people on the school board, let alone have to stand up agast them, ” said Zachary Goff of Newberg, who lnched the petn, which has gotten over 1, 000 signatur.

In pockets of the untry, state tn officials and lol school boards are rpondg to plats om some parents by removg books om schools and nductg wispread ds of school librari, to weed out texts emed appropriate for the efforts have sparked blowback om thors and advocy groups, who say the removals -- which tend to target texts on culturally sensive topics -- risk privg certa stunts om readg books that reflect their own liv and enhance their cultural northern Virgia, a state whose ndidat for ernor sparred this fall over cril race theory, a unty school board member drew attentn this week for suggtg that a book centered on a 10-year-old boy who is sexually abed by an olr man, should be Abuismail, a 24-year-old member of the Spotsylvania County school board, argued a board meetg Monday night that the cln of gay sex the book, "33 Snowfish, " by Adam Rapp, which had brought a plat om one parent that night, disqualified om beg school librari. "I gus we live a world now where our public schools would rather have kids read about gay pornography than Christ, " Abuismail told the other board members. "The board voted unanimoly to nduct ds of each school's library, vowg to weed out "sexually explic" an terview this week wh ABC News, Abuismail sisted his ments about homosexualy were misstatements, and that the book burng remark was "pletely blown out of proportn.

GAY UNSELOR'S FIRG BY INDIANAPOLIS CATHOLIC SCHOOL PERMTED BY FERAL APPEALS URT

"Abuismail charged that he was "not criqug the gay muny, " spe referencg homosexualy at least three tim the board's discsn about books. ”Dannielle Owens-Reid and Krist Rso, -founrs of Everyone Is Gay and -thors of This Is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids, attribute lower g-out ag to the power of reprentatn. The next generatn is growg up wh gay characters on their televisns, pansexual rappers on their playlists, and queer micro-muni on their Tumblr the change also means that there is a new generatn of fai scramblg to raise LGBT kids who have specific needs and challeng — kids who are growg up a society that, while creasgly LGBT-tolerant, is still plagued by hate crim, job discrimatn, and the more banal, everyday sort of homophobia borne by sual ignorance.