LGBTQ Resources Cut in Florida Schools After ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law is Passed
The LGBTQ community and allies have spoken against Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law and the serious repercussions it will have on LGBTQ youth. Florida schools have hit the ground running, working with the law and examining its effects among LGBTQ youth in their districts. Recently, a video partially made by students to campaign against bullying their LGBTQ peers and teach them how to support their peers was removed from schools in Florida. The Duval County school district made that video inaccessible to their students to “ensure the content complies with recent state legislation,” according to Tracy Pierce, spokesperson for the district.
The anti-bullying video was made with the help of the gay-straight alliance faculty sponsor who states that the district didn’t notify him that the video was being removed.
“It’s one critical resource that is now no longer available to teachers to help support students,” says Scott Sowell, GSA faculty sponsor.
This isn’t the first time Florida school districts have decided to resources for students recently. Duval’s superintendent recently took the LGBTQ+ Support Guide off of the district’s website to avoid the right-wing hate that other counties in Florida received for similar guides and procedures. The Duval County LGBTQ+ Support Guide featured different ways for teachers and staff queer students when it comes to expression through clothing while still following dress codes, coming out to teachers, and it included specific guidelines on how to support transgender and gender-nonconforming students.
Along with these LGBTQ resources meant to support students being taken away, a new policy is being introduced to Florida schools like those in Duval County. The new policy change includes notifying the parents of a student if there’s a change in that student’s support services. Meaning, among other things, a student is unable to change their name on unofficial school documents without their parents being notified.
Parents of LGBTQ youth and allies have been protesting the policy change, since it will out students to their parents before many of them are ready to tell their parents or may not be in a safe place to do so. The only exception to the policy is that parents won’t be notified if abuse, abandonment, or neglect are potential risks. Despite the protest from parents and allies, the Duval School Board unanimously voted in favor of the policy.
These changes will only continue to make schools unsafe spaces for LGBTQ youth and make simply growing into themselves difficult.
