What do you want the adults enacting this legislation to know about how it affects teenagers?
A bill that aims to restrict Florida public schools from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity has passed both houses of the state’s legislature. It is a part of “a wave of anti-L.G.B.T.Q. crackdowns by conservative politicians,” Maggie Haberman writes, also pointing to the efforts of Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, to classify widely accepted medical treatments for transgender adolescents as “child abuse.”
What do you want the adults enacting this legislation to know about how it affects teenagers? If you were going to speak to your state legislature about anti-L.G.B.T.Q. legislation, what might you say? What is your reaction to what activists are calling the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would limit discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools? How do you think this policy could affect students?
Have you followed news about the Florida bill or Mr. Abbott’s directive to report medical treatment for transgender teenagers as “child abuse”? What arguments have you heard either in favor of or against either of these orders? Are any of them compelling to you?
How are gender and sexual identity discussed in your school, if at all? What messages do you think your teachers and administrators have sent to students through the way they approach — or ignore — these topics?
How has your own sexual orientation or gender identity affected your experience as a student? Have you experienced homophobia or transphobia at school, or witnessed it directed at others? From your experience or observations, how safe is your school for L.G.B.T.Q. students? How, if at all, do you think your school’s curriculum or culture should change in order to be more responsive to L.G.B.T.Q. students? Once you have thought through these questions, return to the question we began with: If you were going to speak to lawmakers in your state about anti-L.G.B.T.Q. legislation, what would you say? What might you tell them about how Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill could affect you and other teenagers?
What do you want the adults enacting this legislation to know about how it affects teenagers? If you were going to speak to your state legislature about anti-L.G.B.T.Q. legislation, what might you say? What is your reaction to what activists are calling the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would limit discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools? How do you think this policy could affect students?
Have you followed news about the Florida bill or Mr. Abbott’s directive to report medical treatment for transgender teenagers as “child abuse”? What arguments have you heard either in favor of or against either of these orders? Are any of them compelling to you?
How are gender and sexual identity discussed in your school, if at all? What messages do you think your teachers and administrators have sent to students through the way they approach — or ignore — these topics?
How has your own sexual orientation or gender identity affected your experience as a student? Have you experienced homophobia or transphobia at school, or witnessed it directed at others? From your experience or observations, how safe is your school for L.G.B.T.Q. students? How, if at all, do you think your school’s curriculum or culture should change in order to be more responsive to L.G.B.T.Q. students? Once you have thought through these questions, return to the question we began with: If you were going to speak to lawmakers in your state about anti-L.G.B.T.Q. legislation, what would you say? What might you tell them about how Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill could affect you and other teenagers?
