WE SAY GAY! Florida students walked out of classes on Thursday, March 3rd to protest the now infamous, homophobic hate-fueled Don’t Say Gay bill currently steamrolling through the Florida legislature on its way to Governor DeSantis’s desk.
Flagler Palm Coast High School senior Jack Petocz, who organized the statewide protests on social media and led his school’s protest in Palm Coast, spoke to NBC News,
“The language and the supporters of the bill and the rhetoric around the bill really shows what this bill is, and it’s an attempt to hurt queer people like me.”
Also reported by NBC News, immediately after organizing the rally Petocz was suspended indefinitely, “Petocz said he was punished for distributing 200 pride flags for the rally after having been advised not to do so by the principal.” The openly gay senior voiced his outrage,
“I believe this attempt to threaten me and remove me from campus is riddled with homophobia and bigotry. You’re silencing a queer student standing up for what he believes in, in his rights, and you’re disciplining him for challenging you on the allowance of pride flags in a gay rally? It’s ridiculous. It truly is. And I think that they were just they were upset that I was organizing this to begin with, and they just used this as a crutch to go ahead and remove me from campus.”
Unfortunately, and maddeningly, these protests probably won’t divert the tsunami of the bill becoming law. The Parent’s Education Right Bill is about to be voted on in the Senate, where it is expected to pass. FUCKING FLORIDA. From there Governor “DeathSantis,” as he is widely known after his disastrous response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will then sign the bill into law. And why wouldn’t he, he is a Republican homophobe. Nothing scares the GOP scum more than queer people living their lives.
Instinct will continue to cover this story as new information develops. And we are probably preaching to the choir here but for fuck’s sake STOP VOTING REPUBLICAN.
{**This post is solely the opinion of this contributing writer and may not reflect the opinion of other writers, staff, or owners of Instinct Magazine.}
Sources: NBC News
That’s really cool to see students standing up for gay kids by saying gay 🙂
Very cool. Politicians need to remember that these high schoolers soon will be voters! There is hope for the future in these young people.