In less than two months since the start of the year, conservative state lawmakers have filed more than 170 anti-LGBTQ bills - already surpassing last year’s 139 total - with at least 69 of them centered on school policies, according to Freedom for All Americans. “And I don’t think I can bear to see the students struggle and want to ask me about these things and then have to deny them that knowledge. It’s not good for my own mental health,” she said. “If I can’t be myself, seven hours a day, five days a week, then I’m going back in the closet, and I can’t do that. Nicolette Solomon and her wife Courtesy Nicolette Solomon Nicolette Solomon said she is already hesitant to mention her wife - and by default her sexuality - at school, but she said passage of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill would be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” and vowed to quit if it becomes law. “DeSantis has found a weak spot, and that weak spot is children,” she added, suggesting that DeSantis is supporting the measure for political gain. That is not what Florida looks like that is not what the country looks like.” “DeSantis tries to paint this picture that every family is this 1950s mom and dad with two kids and a cat and dog. “Parental rights? Whose parental rights? Only parental rights if you’re raising a child according to DeSantis?” Solomon, who is a nurse manager at a health care company, said of DeSantis’ concerns. Speaking at a news event in Miami, DeSantis said it is “entirely inappropriate” for teachers to be having conversations with students about gender identity, citing alleged instances of them telling children, “Don’t worry, don’t pick your gender yet,” and “hiding” classroom lessons from parents.
On Monday, Solomon’s governor, Republican Ron DeSantis, signaled that he would support a new piece of state legislation - titled the Parental Rights in Education bill, but dubbed the “ Don’t Say Gay” bill - that would prohibit the discussion of sexuality and gender identity in schools. “An easy way to describe it is that he’s the opposite of a tomboy,” she told NBC News.ĭespite how hard she works to protect her children, Solomon - who leads her local chapter of PFLAG, an LGBTQ family advocacy group - said the slew of anti-LGBTQ school policies “keeps me up at night.” Nicolette, Cooper and Jennifer Solomon. Her youngest, Cooper, 11, identifies as male, but Solomon said his “expression is female.” Cooper “never wanted to be a girl,” his mom explained, but he prefers to wear his school’s girls uniform and enjoys dressing up like a fairy-tale princess for fun. Her eldest child, Nicolette, 28, is a lesbian who teaches fourth grade in Miami-Dade County.
South Florida mom Jennifer Solomon, 50, has four children. Conversely, queer youth and their families, along with LGBTQ and ally teachers, say they feel they are being “erased” from the U.S. In the majority of cases, conservative school officials, lawmakers and parents say LGBTQ issues do not belong in school because they are “political” and “not age-appropriate” for students.
Schools are the target right now for the anti-LGBTQ movement.” “What we’re seeing here is anti-LGBTQ groups, on a national level, making schools the new battleground across the board, across various kinds of school policies and various forms of legislation. “There is no separating any of these things,” Mary Emily O’Hara, the rapid response manager at LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, said at a media briefing on Monday.