Florida was front and center when President Joe Biden signed an historic executive order to protect transgender and non-binary kids from state laws that strip them of protection and inclusion.
Javier Gomez, a recent high school graduate who organized school wide walkouts and protests against Florida’s anti-LGBTQ legislation at his Miami magnet school, was there to introduce Biden. But first he spoke to a cheering crowd about his experience growing up “different.”
“When I was 5 years old, I knew I was different. I knew I liked boys, but I didn’t know the words for it,” he said. “I was mocked and bullied for being too gay, too feminine, or too outgoing. Those words silenced me.”
Gomez went on to explain that he had an escape from the harassment in the welcoming classroom of his openly gay fifth grade teacher.
“As I grew older, coming out was a rocky process. But my fifth grade teacher provided me the support I needed to understand my identity,” he said. “I fear other students in Florida and across the country will not be able to get the same support because of hateful legislation like the ‘don’t say gay’ bill.”
Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law that would ban instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in grades K-3, and in higher grade levels if that instruction is deemed “not age appropriate” or not “developmentally appropriate” for students.
His administration also moved to ban gender-affirming health care for transgender and non-binary teens, and, in 2020, DeSantis signed a law that banned transfeminine girls and women from competing on school sports teams.
Biden’s order seeks to “advance equality” for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex individuals.
“Today, unrelenting political and legislative attacks at the State level — on LGBTQI+ children and families in particular — threaten the civil rights gains of the last half century and put LGBTQI+ people at risk,” the order says. It likens states’ anti-LGBTQ laws to the criminalization that LGBTQI+ people face in some 70 countries around the world.
The order seeks to “combat unlawful discrimination and eliminate disparities that harm LGBTQI+ individuals and their families, defend their rights and safety,” and “deliver the full promise of equality for LGBTQI+ individuals.” It targets so-called “conversion therapy,” a discredited practice aimed at suppressing or changing someone’s sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. And it seeks to strengthen support for LGBTQ+ students in schools and for LGBTQ+ individuals and families in health care.
Regarding schools, the order requires Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to develop and release sample policies for supporting LGBTQI+ students’ well-being and academic success in school. It says it will use the Department of Education’s authorities to support LGBTQI+ students, their families, educators, and other school personnel “targeted by harmful State and local laws and practices.”
DeSantis’ administration responded to the president’s comments via email, saying that discrimination and bullying aren’t tolerated in Florida schools, regardless of any student’s gender identity, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic.
A spokesperson went on to say the administration will defend their laws, and that while the Biden administration is free to express disagreement with those laws, “the federal government does not have the authority to overturn our laws.”
And on Wednesday night, the same day Biden released the order, at least one local government implemented the state’s Parental Rights in Education law, called the “don’t say gay” law by critics.
The Palm Beach County School Board voted to adopt the policy into the district’s curriculum to be in compliance with the law. But school board members assured the huge showing of LGBTQ+ people who signed up to speak out against the law that they would do what they can to implement policies that could help mitigate the law’s potential harmful effects.
That could include directing all teachers to read the district’s LGBTQ+ critical support guide and go through more detailed training on how they can support LGBTQ+ students.
Maxx Fenning, president of PRISM, a South Florida youth-led LGBTQ+ nonprofit group that started out of Boca Raton Community High School, spoke against the policy at the board meeting. He urged board members to take a stand against the law and stand up for LGBTQ+ students the way the district had always done for him before.
“We have come so far. I have come so far, because I saw what LGBTQ+ inclusive education could look like,” he said. “Education that let me step into my own, that propelled me all the way to Tallahassee three separate times.”
Fenning also released a statement about Gomez and their activism together.
“Javi has been in this fight for so long, and I have been so impacted by his light, passion, and words these past four months,” the statement said. “We have come so far: From a rental car, a seven-hour drive, and a shared motel bed in Tallahassee to a stunning white suit and a place behind the podium at the White House, no one could have introduced this historic moment better than him.”
Gomez described his months of work with fellow students and allies in the LGBTQ+ community, “to fight back against this legislation that seeks to make schools in my state a more dangerous and hostile place to be LGBTQ+,” he said. He recalled traveling hours to Tallahassee to testify against the bill as it moved through Florida’s legislature and eventually became law.
“We organized school wide walkouts and rallies. And we looked into the eyes of those pushing this dangerous and cruel legislation and said it’s OK to be gay,” he said. “I’m fighting for the next little Javier, so he doesn’t have to cry himself to sleep every night aching that he wakes up normal.”
