Florida parents of LGBTQ students band together to fight anti-LGBTQ bills

(NEW YORK) — When Florida parent Rose Taylor discovered that her son’s new teacher would not use his preferred pronouns, it shattered Taylor’s perception of safety in her local North Florida school.

Taylor, who asked to be named using a pseudonym for privacy reasons, says her son declared that he was a boy at the age of 4, and his teachers and fellow students welcomed his name and pronoun changes.

The next year, however, his new teacher wouldn’t call him by the proper pronouns. Taylor’s son told his mother that the teacher could call him a girl, “but no one else could.”

The comment sounded off alarm bells for Taylor: “Adults don’t get special rules for you, especially that go against your personal rules.”

She continued, “This is going to open him up to bullying. This is going to teach him that rules don’t apply to certain adults in authority, which could open him up to any sort of sexual assault, grooming or anything like that.”

Joining a group like Equality Florida’s Parenting with Pride has helped parents like Taylor face such obstacles amid the backdrop of rising anti-LGBTQ legislation and rhetoric.

According to the ACLU, Florida had 14 bills introduced this year that would impact the LGBTQ community — including restrictions on changes to ID cards, the required use of preferred names or pronouns, and more.

In recent years, education has been the target of this kind of legislation, with the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law and the Stop “WOKE” Act restricting what material and content schools can share about gender and sexual orientation.

Supporters say these laws allow parents to decide what their children learn or discuss about certain topics, and should be discussed at home instead of at school. A spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis argued in a post on X that “there is no reason for instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to be part of K-12 public education. Full stop.”

Many of these bills failed or died in the legislature. One of those bills was from State Sen. Bran Martin, who proposed legislation that would have banned Pride flags from flying at government buildings or public schools and colleges. In an interview with ABC News, Martin called sexual orientation and gender “adult issues” and argued that these laws are intended to “protect children.”

“No one’s attacking kids for their sexual orientation or their gender identity,” Martin said. 

Instead, he noted that some constituents and legislators do not believe young kids should be having conversations related to gender or sexual orientation in the classroom.

“There’s so many, so many good books that kids can learn to deal with self-esteem and how to deal with their friends and how to be successful, or how to deal with unique experiences in their life,” Martin said. “We don’t have to have our shelves full of kids’ books dealing with sexual identity when there’s so much other information to learn that can be taught.”

Florida parent Jennifer Solomon told ABC News her youngest son didn’t know anything about politics or the different gender identities when he began showing signs that his gender expression might not align with what is typical for boys his age — such as wanting to wear dresses.

She created local LGBTQ advocacy group PFLAG Miami when she discovered there were few local resources for parents with children like her son, and she needed guidance and support.

“I realized that I had a story to tell, that I had this incredible child that I was given to raise, and he changes hearts and minds everywhere he goes,” she said.

She thought middle school might be a “nightmare” for her child due to her fears about bullying and his safety — “I was wrong,” she said.

“He is student council president. He is on the cheerleading team. He just made the competitive dance team,” Solomon said. “He has shown me and shown others that you can live as who you are, and others will accept you if we get the politicians and the lawmakers to kind of move out of the way and let our kids just be who they are. “

Now, as the Parents and Families Support Manager for Equality Florida, Solomon hopes Parenting for Pride can help parents address efforts to restrict representation in classroom content or restrict how students can express themselves in schools.

Parenting for Pride — which just held its first summit with more than 200 participants — offers workshops, panels and trainings on online safety, health and wellness, Title IX, and more.

Hillsboro County parent Ellen Lyons attended the summit on behalf of her school’s Parent-Teacher Association to learn how to better make all families feel “welcome and included.”

“Students generally have been concerned about the impact of legislation on the books that they can read, on the way they can address one another, of the way that teachers can address them,” said Lyons. “And so one of the things that PTA wants to do is have all of the knowledge about what the current state of affairs is, so that we can give people accurate information and help people advocate for their students.”

Parenting with Pride has created a network of more than 2,000 families — an effort local activists are encouraging amid the growing anti-LGBTQ sentiment.

“We are parents, and we are demanding our parental rights, because it’s not just parental rights for some, but parental rights for all,” said Solomon. “Enough attacking my child. I’m willing now to be in a space of advocacy that I never thought I would be in.”

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