Florida students are walking out of school in protest of 'Don't Say Gay' bill


More than 500 students at Winter Park High School in Florida made it known on Monday that they do not agree with the "Don't Say Gay" bill now under consideration in the state Senate.
The students walked out of school at 9 a.m. ET in protest of the controversial bill, H.B. 1557, which would prohibit teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity with students in kindergarten through third grade and limit discussions for older students.
Opponents of the measure say it would further stigmatize gay, lesbian, and transgender youth. Research from the Trevor Project shows that in the past year, LGBTQ kids who learned about LGBTQ history and issues at school were 23 percent less likely to attempt suicide. The bill passed the Florida House in February with a 69-47 vote, and is now in the state Senate; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has indicated he supports the measure.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Monday's walkout was organized by students Will Larkins and Maddi Zornek, and came after several other Florida high schools held similar protests last Thursday and Friday. Students chanted "We say gay!" and carried signs that read "Protect Trans Kids." The goal of the walkouts is to "show our government that this isn't going to stop," Larkins told CNN. "This is going to continue. If this passes, there will be protests everywhere. We wanted to get the attention of our representatives, our senators, because the point is to show them that we are the ones in power. The people are the ones in power and what they're doing doesn't represent us, especially marginalized groups."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will robots benefit from a sense of touch
Podcast Plus, has Donald Trump given centrism a new lease of life? And was it wrong to release the deadly film Rust?
-
The week's best photos
In Pictures A dancing couple, a new pope, and more
-
How to create your perfect bedscape
The Week Recommends Nighttime is the right time to get excited about going to bed
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations