Students at Winter Park High and across Florida walked out of class Monday in protest of the Parental Rights in Education bill, aka the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
A video of hundreds of students gathered outside Winter Park High in Orlando has been making the rounds on social media.
Students across Florida are walking out in protest of Desantis’s don’t say gay bill
Tweet out your support with #LetFreeFloridaSayGay— David Hogg ? (@davidhogg111) March 7, 2022
In it, the students chant “We say gay” in protest of the bill, which would prohibit classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, or in any grade if it is “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
Here’s another video, shot by student and protest organizer Will Larkins:
WE SAY GAY pic.twitter.com/XJkQJzAer5
— Will Larkins (@ProudTwinkie) March 7, 2022
Opponents of the bill argue it will make life harder for LGBTQ youth, who already face higher rates of bullying and increased suicide risk compared to their straight, cisgender peers.
The walkouts come as the state Senate prepares to discuss the legislation. It already passed in the state House, and Gov. DeSantis has voiced his support, indicating he’s likely to sign it if it reaches his desk.
Here’s how folks are reacting:
So proud of all the students throughout #Florida that have had walk outs against #DeSantis & Republicans blatant discrimination & government overreach! #LetFreeFloridaSayGay
?????????????— Paula Cobia (@PaulaCobia) March 7, 2022
Amazing. The youth inspire me. #LetFreeFloridaSayGay https://t.co/CEM8gLRi6A
— Melissa Mark-Viverito (@MMViverito) March 7, 2022
The children will save us all!#LetFreeFloridaSayGay https://t.co/ApaeGAN9lB
— azeeestor ????????? (@azeeestor) March 7, 2022
They exist & they have the right to exist. #LetFreeFloridaSayGay pic.twitter.com/boI2ek0Cni
— Farris Thompson (@FarrisThompson) March 7, 2022
My heart is with my fellow LGBTQIA+ family in Florida #LetFreeFloridaSayGay https://t.co/7HBgXhTA8Y
— Aaron ???? (@BloodGrin946) March 7, 2022
These students are braver and more decent than their governor will ever be, even if he lives to be 1,000. #LetFreeFloridaSayGay https://t.co/QM3EDUoJf2
— Bruce Mirken (@BruceMirken) March 7, 2022
Gosh @RonDeSantisFL, you seem to have pissed off a lot of soon-to-be eligible voters. ? #DontSayGay #LetFreeFloridaSayGay https://t.co/80vx3j96F5
— Hobbie???? #CodifyRoe #GND #M4A (@Hobbie_VK) March 7, 2022
Standing with my community. How dare the FL legislator even consider this hateful homophobic bill, #LetFreeFloridaSayGay
— Mink Kitty (@mink_kitty) March 7, 2022
Florida, no matter how hard you try, you can’t stop LGBTQ+ people from existing. #LetFreeFloridaSayGay
(And while I’m at it, goddamn it Disney.)
— Satoshi Bakura ??????? (@SatoshiBakura) March 7, 2022
johncp56
Modern kids know better than to hate damn makes a old homo proud
scotty
im promo homo too.
ZzBomb
LOL the guy commenting on how DeSantis is pissing off eligible voters is the truth Republicans need to hear but don’t want to. To them it’s easier to say there’s election fraud b/c that way they can continue to live in the delusion that they are somehow still a “majority.”
SamB
Nothing is changing for them, they’re in high school.
Eternal.Cowboy
So what? They are allowed to have thoughts and opinions on legislation just like adults are. Civic engagement is a good thing, not sure why you are are so afraid If. Just kidding, I know, its a reminder of how out of touch your views are.
SamB
Cowboy: Remind me, were you for, or against the truckers?
Eternal.Cowboy
Reminding you would imply that you knew at one point and can’t recall. That isn’t the case as we have never discussed truckers. But if you would like to know my opinion I’m happy to share it. There have been several trucker protests over the years can you let me know which one I am chiming in on?
SamB
Cowboy: No your opinion doesn’t matter to me. But I’m 99% sure I know where you stood with the truckers.
Cam
@SamB
The same old right wing troll, gets enraged whenever anyone stands up for LGBTQ rights.
How sad you’re still in here, Putin moved all the smart trolls on to attack Ukraine, guess you weren’t considered one of the good ones.
Eternal.Cowboy
So you have the opportunity to find out what I think but instead of doing that you are going to just go with your imagination. The same imagination that came up with Hillary worked with Russia to spy on Trump, Trump won the popular vote and the U.S economy added 6.6 million jobs in the first two months of 2020.
You being sure of yourself is fairly meaningless.
SamB
Cowboy: You have your little list of ONE thing that happened and TWO things that are straight up lies. But that’s ok, in a different thread when WQA insulted me you stated quite adamantly that “WQA isn’t correct” So for that I thank you.
Bosch
“Nothing is changing for them, they’re in high school.”
Some people have compassion for others, even when there is no personal benefit.
Eternal.Cowboy
There is no lying on my part. These are actual claims that you made. You said there were 6.6 million jobs created in 2020 before covid hit and you said the people voted for Trump over Clinton. These are both demonstrably false and rather than own your mistakes you have opted to lie about making both claims.
What is amazing here is how spectacular of a self-own this has been. Your comment about what I thought about truckers was essentially you trying to call me out as being hypocritical. In terms of Logic that is an Argument Against the Person which is a type of Ad Hominem fallacy. And when confronted with the reality that you didn’t even know if I was hypocritical you stated that you would just imagine that I was vs. actually educating yourself.
So in one fell swoop you managed to show that you struggle with basic critical thought concepts and you continued your pattern of making things up.
You are correct that I made a typo in the other thread. See how easy it is to admit when you wrong? I didn’t need to deny or lie about it.
SamB
Cowboy: LOL LOL OMG. Like I’ve always said, I did say Hillary was in cahoots with the Russians. I was wrong, it was her lawyer who scoured meta data and gave it to the FBI. The other two are absolutely false claims. I’m not going to lay it out for you here because you know it and you’re opinion of me is irrelevant. If I cared I would be frantically trying to show where you are wrong, but as you proved in anther thread, when someone showed you that Same Elliot liked the film Brokeback Mountain and said positive things about gay people, your reply was absolutely dismissive with “Awe…. Bless your heart, you really try.” You couldn’t argue back because you didn’t have one, so you hide your head and pretend that didn’t happen because if it did, your outrage would be ill-placed but you are never wrong. That little rabbit hole you live in must have so many twists and turns you get lost regularly.
Eternal.Cowboy
That was a weird left turn. I may be wrong but I get the impression you are not terribly familiar with idioms used in the souther United States. “Bless your heart” is the correct response when someone says or does something profoundly stupid. I used it for two reasons. The first is the assumption that “bama” the person is “in” is Alabama. So they would be familiar with the idiom. The second was because the argument that someone said something positive about a movie with gay people in it means they can’t be homophobic doesn’t follow. It was a dumb comment, I pointed that out. I also get why my choice of words probably blew past you.
SamB
Cowboy: I know what you meant, that’s why I called you out. You’re dismissive when your narrative was questioned. You proved my point.
Eternal.Cowboy
You really should have looked into Sam Elliot’s comments on Brokeback Mountain were before “calling me out”. It would be super awkward if you just assumed inbama was correct but Elliot actually said the “homosexuality thing” .. “stepped over the line”. Oh wait, he did say that…….
Bless your heart, you try.
SamB
Cowboy: I replied to that in the other thread but bless your heart for not seeing it there.
kish
They can make things happen. They’re in high school, not a North Korean prison. They can protest against what this bill promotes. They can refuse to adhere to it. They can cause a disruption if needed. They’re also not far from voting age.
Honestly, these comments from you are just inflammatory. Either its to do just that, or you are not intelligent enough to express a well thought out opinion.
SamB
kish: You are absolutely right, high schoolers are important. And I 100% agree they can cause a disruption to protest, just like the truckers! So we’re in agreement.
Eternal.Cowboy
That response was hilarious. Thanks for letting me know.
white-queer-african
@SamB et al, can you not even try and be original in your responses? I have posted Lol, Lol, Lol, saying I am laughing at you and not with you! So now you using my expression. Crawl back into your trailer troll.
SamB
WQA: Where did I use your expression? Watch out though, Cowboy doesn’t agree with how you feel about me, he stated it in a comment so I’m not sure if he’ll have your back.
Eternal.Cowboy
@white-queer-african
Nailed it. Original thought is certainly not SamB’s thing.
kish
What does the truckers’ protest have to do with students standing up for lgbt rights?
Again, either you are a troll or your understanding of things is cursory.
SamB
kish: Maybe I just assumed you were against the trucker protest.
kish
Regardless, equating the two doesn’t make sense and shows a perfunctory understanding of what is going on.
HenryCameron
I bet they haven’t even read the bill they are protesting.
LeBlevsez
Yeah, those dang kids! Today it’s a walk-out. Tomorrow they’re marching. Then they’ll be treading all over your candy ass. What a world.
inbama
This generation loves being neutered.
But heck, statistics show they aren’t having sex anyway.
wikidBSTN
Henry, other than flushing your morning dump, name one positive thing you have done today.
Cam
Another of SamB’s screenames coming in to attack anyone fighting for LGBTQ rights.
Your troll game is sad and weak.
Bosch
It should matter more to you that the politicians who created this bill have absolutely no research to back it up. No surprise really, Florida’s reputation is known around the world.
Polaro
I guarantee they have not read the bill, just like most people commenting here. The bill is badly written; about 4 pages long. The bill attempts to address some concerns with adults in schools and others encouraging/promoting things outside of parental review. While I agree there is legitimate concern with people trying to convince pre-teens they are trans (this may be true, but not appropriate at this age and not without parental involvement), this bill is exactly what you get from illiterate people on a mission. It is a bad bill in that it does not address real concerns in reasonable ways, and creates a ton of negative collateral damage.
Part of this is the common issue that parents are blind to their little angels turning into sexual beings. This is where schools have a measured role in educating, without which many children would have no facts. The other part is that clearly older children have strong opinions on this topic and are the most at risk from the collateral damage of this bill. Luckily, they are not staying quiet.
kish
Inbama: this is an ignorant comment.
cuteguy
Ron Deathsantis is a poor man’s Trump and only doing this to cater to that base, aka the bottom of the barrel. The youth movement is only demonstrating how the GQP will have no future. The only losers supporting this garbage are inbred white trash m0rons who need a hobby away from the trailer park.
wikidBSTN
Maybe Florid has a future?
Cam
Watch the trolls, anytime anybody comes out of the closet or stands up for LGBTQ rights, they immediately come in to try to diminish them, attack them, anything they can do to take the focus off of the fact that these people are standing up against bigoted, hateful Republicans.
okokwhatever
What closet? I cannot believe people are still buying what these idiots are selling to you. Man, how dumb can this community be? You all just let the government have too much power and say in your life when they ACTUALLY have none!!!
Invader7
Go students. The stupid, inbred sleazy politicians NEVER learn they can’t legislate human behavior. EVER. They only cause MORE backlash.Which in this case is VERY warranted… Cause Florida is a cess pool od stupid ideas . PLus it has serial killers with middle name of Wayne…
Invader7
Thet are our future. And they’ll put the Neo-NAZI Fascist republithugs in the trash bin of history–where the scum bags belong…
mike
#myexistenceisnotinappropriate
johncp56
So heart warming, the young know how to be humane and love all, its religions and politicos that do not