{"id":2366,"date":"2022-03-22T10:35:01","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T14:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=2366"},"modified":"2022-03-22T10:35:02","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T14:35:02","slug":"to-reinforce-fundamental-rights-of-parents-river-hill-students-response-to-the-dont-say-gay-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/to-reinforce-fundamental-rights-of-parents-river-hill-students-response-to-the-dont-say-gay-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTo reinforce fundamental rights of parents\u2026\u201d – River Hill Students\u2019 Response to the \u2018Don\u2019t Say Gay\u2019 Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Sanjana Jain, Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday March 11, a few River Hill students organized a peaceful walkout against the new \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d Bill that was recently passed by Florida\u2019s Republican-led lesgislation. Introduced by Republican state representative Joe Harding, the bill is titled Parental Rights in Education, bill number HB 1557. The bill prohibits classroom discussion regarding gender identity and sexual orientation in kindegarten through grade 3. It states that Florida schools have the authority to inform parents about \u201cspecified information\u201d or new developments regarding their child in terms of sexual orientation and\/or gender identity. It also gives parents the right to \u201cbring action against the school district\u201d if the school doesn\u2019t abide by this law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the walkout, Principal Lidgard stated, \u201cWe always support students’ rights and are so proud of our students for speaking up when they see something or hear something that doesn\u2019t sit right with them. We as an administrative team and the staff of our school are firm, firm believers in the power of students to make change.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gender and Sexuality Alliance Club (GSA) at River Hill was responsible for organizing the walkout; senior Jude Barnhart was the sole architect. Like a probable large number of students, they found out about the bill through social media and the news. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy initial reaction I guess was disbelief, turning into not really surprised considering the current state of [Florida\u2019s] House and Senate. It was more of a disappointment,\u201d Jude stated. They felt it was their responsibility as GSA\u2019s club president to organize a movement of support for all the queer students at River Hill, they being queer themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jude commended the club\u2019s sponsor, Mr. MCready, for his involvement and support. \u201cHe is a huge ally. The day before [the walkout] it was me, Mr. McCready, Mrs. Lidgard and other members of GSA. He was a massive help in planning all this,\u201d they said. \u201cHe was at the walkout and was actually wearing an LGBTQ shirt,\u201d they added.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A student who assisted Jude with the walkout was senior Iris Zhan. Jude said that they \u201crelied on Iris to help me since they have more experience with these sorts of things.\u201d Like Jude, Iris was first made aware of the bill a few weeks ago and through social media. \u201cThe bill is ridiculous, and also how people don\u2019t want to acknowledge the existence of queerness and how horribly wrong that is,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is like a backwards move in time honestly. The rest of society is here, and this \u2018Don\u2019t Say Gay\u2019 bill is pushing [the LGBTQ communtiy] back and also other anti-LGBTQ legislation. We are making progress towards inclusion, but we are also being pushed back, and that\u2019s also a reminder of why we need to be pushing. There is still so much discrimination and hatred and opression,\u201d Iris said when recalling their initial recation to the bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since last week, protests, walkouts, and information-sharing have occurred throughout Howard County, as well as nationwide, in opposition to the bill. \u201cI saw a bunch of other schools posting about it; I talked to a friend at Oakland Mills who was posting about it and I was like \u2018Yo this is important so it\u2019s great to see people in our local area actually caring about this,\u2019\u201d Iris said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A protest that gained national attention was one organized by Florida\u2019s Flagler Palm High School student, Jack Petocz. Unlike River Hill, where the administration was supportive of the student body\u2019s decision on the walkout, Jack was pulled aside by his school\u2019s administration just before the beginning of the protest where they expressed their discomfort and opposition against students waving pride flags. For continuing with the walkout, Jack was suspended. \u201cQueer people aren’t inherently not age-appropriate,\u201d Petocz told ABC News Live on a March 7 interview. \u201cOur existence fosters a more inclusive environment.\u201d He has requested to meet with Governor DeSantis to explain how this bill affects his community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only are students actively discussing this bill, but news channels, TV show hosts, CEOs, even the White House, are all taking a stance and forming an opinion. American conservative Laura Ingraham, the host of the Ingraham Angle from Fox News expressed, \u201cThis is the most ridiculous distortion of what a piece of legislation is and what it would do.\u201d  While on the show, republican member of the Florida House of Representatives, Jeanette Nu\u00f1ez, expressed her agreement with Ingraham, stating that, \u201c[Florida] puts parents and their rights first\u2026and it\u2019s about making sure that children aren\u2019t indoctrinated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon hearing about the bill, President Biden tweeted, \u201cI want every member of the LGBTQI+ community \u2014 especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill \u2014 to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are. I have your back, and my Administration will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill was passed on Tuesday March 8, but is awaiting Florida\u2019s Governor, Ron DeSantis\u2019 signature, for it to officially become a law. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sanjana Jain, Staff Writer On Friday March 11, a few River Hill students organized a peaceful walkout against the new \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d Bill that was recently passed by Florida\u2019s Republican-led lesgislation. Introduced by Republican state representative Joe Harding, the bill is titled Parental Rights in Education, bill number HB 1557. The bill prohibits…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":2367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Screenshot-2022-03-22-103421.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2366"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2368,"href":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366\/revisions\/2368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}