“The biggest thing that’s happening right now is just trying to create awareness around what this bill is, also letting students know what their supports are and what they can try to do to make a difference,” Vega says. The center has also been working to raise awareness of how HB 1577 and similar legislation could have serious repercussions for the K-12 community and beyond. “Everyone warned us not to move from New York to Florida, but we did it anyway, and bills like this one make me think twice about whether or not this was the right choice for us.”Īt the University of Miami (UM) LGBTQ Student Center, staff have also been focused on ensuring that students know they have a safe space and a supportive community at this time, according to director Gisela P. “This is dangerous, because as a parent and as a gay man, this bill will hurt my children directly and hurt my entire family,” he wrote. Velásquez-Paredes says he is worried about how his own family will be affected. “We have also provided our students with a safe space to come in and vent about what they are going through and created more in-person and virtual support groups,” he stated.Īfter the bill was signed into law, UNF hosted a Courageous Conversations event for members of the university and local community to share their concerns about the new legislation and how it might affect their lives. In the weeks leading up to the bill’s passage, UNF increased the availability of mental health counselors for students “to speak to someone about their fears” concerning HB 1577 and similar anti-LGBTQ legislation across the U.S., according to Velásquez-Paredes.
A display at the University of Miami (UM) highlights LGBTQ pioneers and icons during a symposium celebrating the 10th anniversary of the university’s minor in LGBTQ Studies in April. The Trevor Project and other leading LGBTQ organizations have issued multiple statements condemning the measure as being detrimental to a population already more vulnerable to depression, substance abuse, and suicide. The increased risk of suicide and suicidal ideation for LGBTQ youth in the face of HB 1577 has been one of its critics’ greatest concerns. “It has been proven time and time again that every time a city/state/country passes any anti-LGBTQ measures, the suicide rates increase - this is not a coincidence,” Manny Velásquez-Paredes, director of the University of North Florida (UNF) LGBTQ Center, wrote in a recent email to INSIGHT.
Now, as K-12 educators across the state are learning to contend with these new classroom restrictions, some Florida colleges and universities are working to support LGBTQ students in the face of legislation that experts say will have widespread negative repercussions. Dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics, the legislation states that school districts in Florida “may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels.” While supporters say it gives parents more control over their children’s education, critics have decried the law for having vague wording, overstepping boundaries, and promoting homophobia. Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s controversial House Bill (HB) 1577 into law. Months later, the fight hasn't stopped.Advocates worry that the new law, while aimed at K-12 education, will also have grave repercussions for the LGBTQ higher education community. Students in several Florida schools across the state held protests against the decision - in Osprey, Palm Coast, St. Student activists have continued to organize against the Parental Rights in Education law months after it was signed by Gov. He is one of many students in the state, both in and out of K-12 schools, who fear the impact of the bill.
LGBTQ advocates have said the law would chill speech and classroom discussion about these topics and force some students to hide their identity due to shame. Moricz has been outspoken against the Florida law that bans LGBTQ curriculum from some classrooms. "It would have felt inappropriate as the first openly gay class president in a public school, not to address a piece of legislation that's going to harm gay children in public schools in Florida," Moricz told ABC News. Zander Moricz's graduation speech last month about his curly hair - a metaphor for being a gay young adult - has became a symbol for the impact of anti-LGBTQ sentiment and so-called "Don't Say Gay" laws across the country.