On Tuesday, the Broward County School Board in Florida passed a resolution adopting a National Day of Silence for the LGBT community on April 12, 2024. The board voted 6-2 to approve a long list of resolutions after hearing from dozens of speakers (see all the resolutions passed on Tuesday here).
The motion affirms a Day of Silence to help to prevent harassment and bullying of LGBT students, particularly against physical violence and verbal threats. It cites the National Day of Silence in 2015.
One public speaker in dissent referenced bullying towards straight kids for refusing to participate in gay walkouts and events in schools. She iterated it’s cause for division and special categories for some students to feel more special than others, calling it wrong and divisive.
Also on Tuesday, the board spent hours on an agenda item that took about five minutes last year and generated zero controversy. The board was considering the approval of 98 resolutions, such as marking Hispanic Heritage Month, Autism Awareness, Breast Cancer Awareness, and many more. It was the three resolutions supporting the LGBTQ community, which drew a crowd of supporters and opponents to comment.
Many of the speakers opposing the three items related to the LGBTQ+ Community referenced the need for schools to prioritize reading, writing, and arithmetic as opposed to issues that should be left at home to parent, or as some stated the “ABC’s” and 1-2-3’s.”
“I oppose the resolutions for pride month, LGBTQ history month and a day of silence, how can anyone guarantee that the discussions about sexuality or gender ideology are not gonna happen in the classroom? You can’t,” said Sabrina Artilles, who was wearing a Moms For Liberty shirt. Are we going to “see her next Tuesday?”
One speaker emphasized there’s more than academics covered in schools and these items give an opportunity for students to appreciate their differences and learn about themselves while acknowledging events, mentioning minority months such as African American, Mexican American and Latin American history months.
And then there’s the AP Psychology fiasco. Last year, more than 27,000 students took the course in Florida, earning college credit for it. Now, the governor’s office has decided that AP Psychology cannot continue in Florida high schools unless content that may pertain to the LGBTQ population is removed. Myers’ Psychology for the AP® Course table of contents shows some of the content that DeSantis is afraid might cause harm to students that are intelligent and mature enough to take a college course. You would think, since he is championing protecting feeble high school students from life and thought and grooming, he would have issues with chapters like these:
(25) Psychoactive Drugs, (65) Introduction to Psychological Disorders, (66) Anxiety Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, (67) Depressive Disorders, Bipolar Disorder, Suicide, and Self-Injury, (68) Schizophrenia, (69) Other Disorders
… but it is probably more like these chapters:
(39) Sexual Motivation, (49) Gender Development, (53) Sexual Development, (59) Exploring the Self, (77) Prejudice and Discrimination, (81) Influences on Drug Use
I am sure ti is outlined in one of his many “executive orders from on high” which content is the icky gross LGBTQ content, but i just don’t want to look it up. I taught Psychology for 5 years to high school students and there were no problems whatsoever. And they know the difference between thigh food and Thai food.
The College Board has refused to remove the section of AP Psychology which discusses gender and sexuality. School board member Dr. Allen Zeman said in the board meeting Tuesday that other providers, including Cambridge, have deleted those topics from their advanced psychology courses.
“That, to the American Psychological Association, makes it not a fully equivalent course, and not giving everybody the content that they need to say they’ve taken a college-level psychology class,” Zeman said.
Miami-Dade School Board member Luisa Santos seemed optimistic on the issue.
“I am confident that very soon we will have reassurance that every single school that planned to offer AP Psychology will be able to do so,” Santos said, referring to her school district.
Florida education commissioner Manny Diaz sent a letter to superintendents last week, seeming to give AP Psychology the green light, writing, “AP Psychology can be taught in its entirety in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate.”
Here is local coverage on the AP Psych issue mixed in a little bit with the above Broward County resolutions.
It is going to take people standing up to little ronnie and his policies. It is going to take court cases to shut down his anti-“anything non white, non straight, non christian” ways.
Bravo Broward County. It’s where I live and love. You have chosen to stand up to the minority mind, the smaller minds, the governor’s dictatorial mind. Broward School System still has an LGBT page present:
BCPS supports educators with the tools and resources necessary to address lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) topics in a school setting. Our goal is to create a safer learning environment for all students, including LGBTQ youth and their families.
They also promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, (DEI) a mentality that little ronnie’s government is against as well.
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Use these days of observance as a jumping-off point for prevention-related lessons, school events, or to maintain your students’ commitment to diversity and inclusion year-round. Observances are excellent tools to educate and excite your students to action. For the most updated toolkits and observance dates, go to the observance’s originating website.
