Orlando, FL – On Saturday, April 6, more than 20 community members gathered at The Center, a local LGBTQ community hub, for a victory party celebrating the defeat of 21 out of 22 anti-LGBTQ bills from the Florida legislature during the most recent session. The event was hosted by Orlando for Gender Equality (OGE) and HOPE CommUnity Center.

The festivities included board games, a “Pin the Pride on DeSantis” game, a protest sign-making station, as well as food and drink.

After about an hour of music, mingling and refreshments, attendees sat down to listen to speeches from local organizers. Although the main purpose of the event was to highlight and celebrate the movement’s successes this past legislative session, the speeches emphasized the necessity to use the momentum to continue to fight back against anti-LGBTQ legislation and policies. In addition to the defeats of the Trans Erasure Bill (HB 1639) and the Pride Flag Ban (HB 901), a recent settlement reversed some of the attacks resulting from the infamous Don’t Say Gay Law.

Jacob Muldoon, an organizer with OGE stated, “This is a huge success for us and our movement and this is truly showing that there is a tide-change happening. And that is because of everyone in this room. It is because of everyday queer people and their allies that have demanded that they will not go one step back. It’s because of people power that we stand here today in celebration.”

Muldoon added, “This is why Orlando for Gender Equality will be continuing our ‘Not One Step Back’ campaign by targeting the recent transphobic DMV policy change. We must not stop at just HB 1639, which we killed, and we must continue to fight not just during the legislative session. We need to take that fire and bring it to our local communities and all levels of government.”

The event concluded with an awards ceremony. HOPE CommUnity Center and OGE organizer Andrea Montanez received the award for “Grassroots Organizer of the Year” for her organizing work in the LGBTQ and immigrant rights movements. State Representative Anna Eskamani was awarded the “Legislative Champion” award for her efforts in the state house. Finally, State Representative Doug Bankson, who sponsored HB 1639, was awarded the “Biggest Loser” award.

#OrlandoFL #FL #LGBTQ #DontSayGay #OGE #HOPE

Baton Rouge, LA – On Monday April 1, Louisiana State University students celebrated Trans Day of Visibility at the campus’s Parade Grounds to resist Louisiana's transphobic legislation, as well as an anti-trans administrative policy.

Several anti-LGBTQ bills in Louisiana are awaiting hearing, such as the Trans Erasure Bathroom Bill (HB608), the Don’t Say Gay Bill (HB122), and the Name and Pronoun Regulation in Schools Bill (HB121). Reactionary legislators pushed similar bills just last year, but the governor ultimately vetoed them after facing pushback from the LGBTQ community. Many are worried these bills will see a different fate with Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, who has been antagonistic to LGBTQ rights in the past.

A little over a week ago, LSU’s student government passed a bill to make on-campus housing more accessible to trans and gender-nonconforming students by helping LGBTQ students connect and room together.

The current process for trans students who are seeking on-campus housing forces them to find a roommate who will agree to live with them on their own, or you are forced to room with the incorrect gender. LSU claims that it acknowledges the correct genders for trans people who have changed their gender identity on official government identification documents. But the university stopped accepting Social Security Cards as proof of identity in the fall of 2022, when the Social Security Administration made it possible to self-select sex.

LSU students rallied against this oppression by chanting “When trans rights are under attack, stand up, fight back!” They played some games to symbolically resist the prejudice against trans people playing sports.

This rally was hosted by Louisiana Trans Advocates at LSU, Students for a Democratic Society at LSU, the Queer Trans Community Action Project (formerly Real Name Campaign), and Trans Queer Youth NOLA. Student organizers at LSU hope this event is just one of many to come.

#BatonRougeLA #LA #LGBTQ #StudentMovement #Trans #DontSayGay #AntiLGBTQBills

Tallahassee, FL – On the evening of March 24, 25 community members gathered to honor the life of Nex Benedict, an Oklahoma transgender teenager who was murdered. The vigil was held at Common Ground Books, a local LGBTQ bookstore.

Nex Benedict, who used he/they pronouns, was brutally beaten by classmates in their Owasso high school bathroom on February 7 for being transgender. Due to Oklahoma’s “Don’t Say Gay” laws, similar to those in Florida, transgender youth are restricted to using the bathroom that matches their assigned gender at birth. This led to an altercation between Benedict and his classmates. Benedict was rushed to the hospital for treatment and succumbed to his injuries the next day.

Since last month, the Oklahoma state legislature and Owasso school board have come under fire for systematically repressing and silencing transgender students and refusing to accept accountability for their part in Benedict’s death. Vigils have been held across the country to honor Nex Benedict and demand justice for all trans youth under attack by the right wing.

The case has come under even more scrutiny since medical examiners ruled Benedict’s death a suicide by overdose. LGBTQ activists across the nation have spoken out against the ruling.

“We have to remember that Nex Benedict’s death was a murder, not a suicide. Nex was failed by every institution that should have protected him. We need to fight for a world where we don’t need to hold any more vigils for trans kids who have been failed by the adults around them,” said Delilah Pierre, president of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee.

Sam Beal is an employee at Common Ground Books who helps run the Gender Affirming Closet, a place where trans youth can receive gender affirming clothing and supplies at no cost. Beal said in their speech, “Being able to provide trans kids in Tallahassee with a safe space to be themselves has been the greatest honor. Many times, over the past month I couldn’t help but wonder what Nex would have looked like in our space, surrounded by people who accepted them as they are.”

Kenvonte Ford, representing Equality Florida, inspired hope in the crowd, “22 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced this past legislative session, but through our organizing we were able to kill and neutralize 21 of those bills. Things like this show us that people have power to create change.”

The vigil closed with attendees lighting candles in Benedict’s honor.

#TallahasseeFL #FL #LGBTQ #Trans #NexBenedict #TCAC #DontSayGay

Baton Rouge, LA – On April 29, 20 protesters in New Orleans and Baton Rouge held two coordinated rallies to protest anti-LGBT+ legislation. High school students, teachers, parents and social workers attended. They spoke out against Louisiana’s version of the Don’t Say Gay bill, and a ban on transgender girls playing sports. The rallies took place outside of two key state legislators’ offices to push them to vote no on both pieces of legislation.

In New Orleans, protesters rallied outside the office of Representative Stephanie Hilferty, and in Baton Rouge, they targeted Representative Barbara Freiberg’s office. These politicians are Republican swing votes on the House Education Committee. If they both vote against the bills, they can stop them or delay them long enough to run out the clock this session. Protesters timed their rallies to deliver the message to both legislators at the same time.

Event participants in both cities found the legislators’ offices vacant, at 4 p.m. on a Friday. In New Orleans, the front door had an “out of office” notice. But at the end of the event, an observer of the protest reported that two people exited through the back door. They were probably staffers who saw the rally.

Participants at both events left a letter and signs at the office doors. The letter, signed by LGBTQ+ organizations, social workers and the New Orleans teachers’ union, stated: “At the end of the day, everyone should be treated with dignity and respect – and that includes transgender young people. A supermajority of Louisianans (71%) support comprehensive nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people.”

A participant of the Baton Rouge rally took the event as an opportunity to come out to her extended family online, with the love and affirmation of other protesters.

“Don’t Say Gay” and the trans sports ban

The Don’t Say Gay bill, or House Bill 837, threatens to prohibit all discussion of “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” in classrooms for grades K-8. It also places a gag order on teachers from disclosing their own sexual orientations or gender identities in grades K-12. This is a copy of identical legislation in Florida. There is no way to enforce the letter of this law. Grammar lessons on pronouns refer to gender identity (she, he). Writing “Mrs. Anderson” on a board is often a disclosure of this teacher’s sexual orientation. When the bill says “gender identity and sexual orientation,” it uses this as a dog whistle for “LGBTQ kids.” The point is to greenlight transphobic and homophobic harassment, bullying and discrimination.

The trans sports ban, or Senate Bill 44, tries to outlaw any transgender girl’s participation in girls’ sports. It has no grounding in science or international athletics standards. In fact, transgender women participate in women’s sports around the world, and most perform as well as cisgender women. Only outstanding ones deal with critics who punish them for their achievements. The main reason that women face disadvantages in sports is because their teams receive less funding and attention than men’s. The so-called “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” does not address this. The bill is also likely to have racist and discriminatory consequences beyond transphobia. When someone accuses a cisgender woman of being a “biological male,” it’s often because she’s Black, brown, or intersex. This was true for Caster Semenya, who critics considered to be too masculine for her gender.

A 2022 ABC News/Ipsos poll found that most people in the U.S. oppose the Don’t Say Gay bill, and a 2021 Marist poll found that most also oppose anti-transgender legislation. Neither bill responds to any constituents’ needs.

Real Name Campaign NOLA organized the coordinated double rally. It can be reached on Facebook @RealNameCampaign and on Instagram @real_name_campaign.

#BatonRougeLA #WomensMovement #antiLGBTQLegislation #dontSayGay

Tallahassee, FL – On Monday, April 18, Florida State University Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a march against Florida’s repressive HB1557. Led by SDS officers Isabela Casanova and Chudi Oraedu, a group of roughly 40 students marched from FSU’s Legacy Fountain to the Integration Statue, chanting “Homophobia has got to go” and “Trans lives matter.”

Nicknamed the “Don’t say gay bill” by opponents, it was signed into state law on March 28. Parents are encouraged to sue their local school districts over what they consider to be violations of this law.

The law's homophobic and transphobic yet vague text leaves teachers with little to no room to discuss anything on the subject of sexuality and gender at any grade level without facing legal threats, while simultaneously preventing students from seeking the safety that many educators provide to discuss matters of sexuality and identity without fear of bigoted backlash.

SDS member Kasidy Brown stated during his speech: “These communities are already put at risk, and I think these bills like this enable people to cause harm to LGBTQ+ people. It allows people to commit harm against us, because they know that they will get away with it.” HB1557 has clearly been put into place to make public education a hostile and unsafe space for LGBTQ+ students, and an academically and socially restrictive space for teachers and school faculty.

This is just one attempt in a series of attacks from Republican legislators to dismantle public education. Shortly after the passage of HB1557, the state legislature also passed the “Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act,” which bans conversations around race-based discrimination and other forms of oppression, both historical and current.

Additionally, in early April, universities across the state were forced to distribute the Intellectual Freedom and Viewpoint Diversity survey to their students and employees, asking loaded questions about “[tolerance] … of both liberal and conservative beliefs” and whether instructors “inject [their] political … beliefs into [their] classes,” serving as justification for future attempts to further restrict and control the public education system once its results are published later this year.

Despite the barrage of restrictive laws, students remain hopeful and empowered to fight against these injustices on a local level. As Noella Williams of FSU GenAction says, “Just because the bills passed doesn’t mean that there’s nothing we can do anymore – we can still fight in our local communities, we can still try and protect students that are in Leon County, that are in Florida schools.”

Students across the state have been banding together and holding protests in their respective schools and cities. Despite the DeSantis administration's best attempts, the LGBTQ community has refused to be silenced.

SDS was joined by multiple organizations, including the Florida State Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA), VEG FSU, FAMU Generation Action, the Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC), the Tallahassee Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), FSU Gender Odyssey and the FSU College Democrats.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #dontSayGay