After Field Trip To ‘Gay Bar,’ School Board Officials, Restaurant Staff Threatened: Report

WILTON MANORS, FL — Broward County school officials are receiving threats and the state has opened an investigation into the district following a school field trip to a Wilton Manors restaurant associated with the LGBTQ+ community.

Students from Wilton Manors Elementary School visited Rosie’s Bar & Grill Wednesday to learn about local businesses. They walked to the nearby restaurant, where they were presented a special menu, met the chef and learned how to pay for a check, Local 10 News reported. While it has a bar, it operates primarily as a restaurant.

School board member Sarah Leonardi has received many angry comments and voicemails, including multiple threats, since sharing pictures from the field trip, which she chaperoned, on social media.

One caller told Leonardi, “You are a child abuser by taking kids to some bar — gay bar — go to hell.”

Another called the trip “disgusting,” while another accused her of “contributing to the corruption of minors,” reports said.

“Sadly, I’ve recently been attacked with bigoted comments and death threats,” Leonardi told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “My friends and family have also been targeted. These attacks have no place in our society.”

She also said that she didn’t see anything inappropriate at the restaurant while she was there.

Restaurant staff has also received threats after the photos were shared online, said Rosie’s co-owner, John Zieba. He said the students learn about how restaurants operate at this annual field trip.

“They get introduced to the chef and the general manager who explains what the servers do,” he said. “Some of these students have never been inside a restaurant before.”

One parent, David Comras, told Local 10 News that the field trip has taken place every year for nearly a decade. His 5-year-old daughter attended the recent visit.

“They are learning civics and they show them how a kitchen works, and they show them what waiters do," he said. "Every restaurant has a bar, so why is it that they are spinning it in such a way where they make it seem like it’s this dark negative indoctrination of children?”

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration sent an investigator to Wilton Manors “to determine if there is a legally sufficient complaint,” Jared Ochs, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education, told the Sun Sentinel. “The health, safety, and welfare of Florida’s 2.9 million students is of utmost importance.”

Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ press secretary, also tweeted about the field trip, questioning why students were taken to a “gay bar.”

She retweeted Leonardi’s original post and wrote, “Broward School Board member takes little kids to a gay bar on a field trip, forcing them to wear masks ‘to keep them safe.’”

In a comment Pushaw added, “I know Wilton Manors is a gay community. Could they not go to the LGBT community center or a museum or something at least with age-appropriate activities, is this really necessary for 8 year olds?”