Durg the Proposn 8 mpaign, one of the arguments ed by proponents of the ban on gay marriage was that, if was not passed, schoolchildren would be tght about gay marriage when they learned about fai. I often found myself wonrg: what would be so bad about this?
Contents:
- FROM BOOK BANS TO 'DON’T SAY GAY' BILL, LGBTQ KIDS FEEL 'ERASED' THE CLASSROOM
- FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'
- FIRST RSIA, THEN HUNGARY, NOW ROMANIA IS CONSIRG A 'GAY PROPAGANDA' LAW
FROM BOOK BANS TO 'DON’T SAY GAY' BILL, LGBTQ KIDS FEEL 'ERASED' THE CLASSROOM
Anti-gay misrmatn reverberat our natn’s schools. One of the biggt and most dangero li promoted is the claim that gay people n change their sexual orientatn through what is monly known as “ex-gay” or “nversn” therapy. Counter the false propaganda wh the most powerful tool at your disposal – facts. * gay propaganda in schools *
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.
Newberg’s school board, stunt activists and teachers has been at loggerheads over the last two years over how to fight racism and homophobia wh the munty had already alt wh cints cludg a whe Newberg teacher who showed up to school blackface and a stunt who posted racial slurs and homophobic ments to a Snapchat group lled “Slave Tra. The next day, at a staff meetg, the lawsu said she told her employe “I don’t want any of you tellg stunts ’s ok to be gay or trans.
FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'
Romania is nsirg a bill that would ban mors om beg exposed to so-lled "gay propaganda" schools and public life, spe warngs om rights groups that would "fuel Rsian disrmatn mpaigns" and restate censorship. * gay propaganda in schools *
But Mae’s Department of Edutn reports that between 13 percent and 18 percent of public high-school stunts say they’re “lbian, gay, bisexual or unsure” of their sexual inty.
Spencer LystCourty Spencer LystSce the start of the school year, school officials stat across the untry have banned books about gay and trans experienc, removed LGBTQ-affirmg posters and flags and disband gay-straight alliance clubs. In school districts throughout the natn, stunts have attacked their queer classmat, while state lawmakers have filed hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills wh many seekg to refe lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer stunts’ plac U. Courty Jennifer SolomonOn Monday, Solomon’s ernor, Republin Ron DeSantis, signaled that he would support a new piece of state legislatn — tled the Parental Rights Edutn bill, but dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — that would prohib the discsn of sexualy and genr inty schools.
Nilette Solomon said she is already hant to mentn her wife — and by flt her sexualy — at school, but she said passage of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill would be “the straw that breaks the mel’s back” and vowed to qu if be law. In addn to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill advancg Florida, there are 15 bills unr nsiratn eight stat that would silence speech about LGBTQ inti classrooms, acrdg to ee speech nonprof anizatn PEN perhaps the biggt trend state bills targetg LGBTQ youths are those foced on transgenr stunts. “I felt that my muny was unr attack, that they were tryg to silence LGBTQ+ experienc and voic wh our muny, ” Petocz, who is gay and led a stunt prott rponse to the book’s removal, said.
FIRST RSIA, THEN HUNGARY, NOW ROMANIA IS CONSIRG A 'GAY PROPAGANDA' LAW
”Settg a ‘different tone’While state bills and book bans have garnered the most media attentn, advot say there are a host of other troublg trends addg to the distrs that many queer stunts are feelg: removals of Pri flags and other LGBTQ-affirmg symbols om classrooms, disbandments of gay-straight alliance clubs and rignatns of teachers prott of anti-LGBTQ polici.
In December, parents acced teachers at a middle school Tennsee of tryg to “doctrate” kids to beg gay after helpg stunts start a gay-straight alliance addn to parents, school officials and lawmakers, classmat are among those targetg LGBTQ stunts, acrdg to advocy groups and lol news reports.
Earlier this month, the Whe Hoe issued a rebe of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, while nnectg the legislatn to the disput happeng natnally. Rawal, who is gay, said he was relieved when school board members heed stunts’ mands, but he lamented that the anizg efforts forced him to miss class and lose sleep. Accg LGBTQ people of "groomg" or "recg" children to bee gay or transgenr is an age-old trope that feeds off fear.