Middle School Students In Arlington Join Protests Against FL 'Don't Say Gay' Bill

ARLINGTON, VA — Protests against Florida legislation known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill made their way to an Arlington middle school last Friday, where students staged a walkout to voice their opposition to the Florida bill.

Hundreds of students at Gunston Middle School in Arlington walked out of their classrooms to protest the bill, officially called the Parental Rights in Education bill, which has passed both the Florida Senate and House and is awaiting the signature of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“In one week, we got half the student body to come and support the movement and bring awareness to LGBTQ rights,” said Kyungsup Hwang, an eighth-grader at Gunston Middle School and one of the organizers of the walkout.

Students walked out of their classrooms at 1:30 p.m. and gathered on the soccer field at the school on South Lang Street. When they reached the soccer field, students chanted, "We say gay," in response to the Florida bill. The walkout lasted for about 20 minutes.

Gunston Middle School's principal, Dr. Lori Wiggins, said she learned about the student-led walkout from flyers distributed at the school. She then emailed teachers at the school, asking them to give space to let the students lead the action and told them the students would be gone for about 20 minutes.

The Arlington protest came after high school students throughout Florida staged walkouts earlier in March following the passage of House Bill 1557.

The March 11 walkout at Gunston Middle School was part of a national call to action by Queer Youth Assemble against the "Don't Say Gay" bill in Florida.

Speaking at a rally in Falls Church in support of teachers Sunday, Kyungsup said the Florida bill “further stigmatizes queer youth and censors teachers and students alike” by limiting what educators can teach about sexual orientation and gender identity.

During the walkout, Kyungsup said some students at Gunston Middle School tried to disrupt the protest and used homophobic and racist slurs against the participants “while we were trying to bring awareness.”

But Kyungsup emphasized that the students who were using the slurs are not the problem.

“Those students weren’t born knowing the ‘f’ slur or other very harmful phrases,” Kyungsup said. “They learned it from somewhere and were conditioned to use it by an education system that [Virginia] Gov. [Glenn] Youngkin is trying to continue.”

SEE ALSO: Educators Rally Against 'Anti-Teacher' Actions By Gov. Youngkin

Wiggins said the walkout was a little more chaotic than previous protests at the school. "I did notice when I was outside during the walkout that there were some students creating a ruckus," she told Patch.

After the walkout, where organizers gave speeches through megaphones and led chants, students were then sent back to classes. Wiggins said she met with the Gay-Straight Alliance, a student-led club supported by Gunston, on Tuesday to talk about the walkout and discuss the homophobic slurs.

Wiggins said she did not have time to alert parents before the walkout but did send a message to parents afterward letting them know what had happened. In the message, she referenced the line from Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" about the walkout: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

One parent was upset that students were subjected to homophobic comments, but no parents complained about the school allowing the students to stage the walkout.

Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill

The Florida bill does not ban the word "gay" in schools, but it would prevent teachers from using lesson plans about gender identity and sexual orientation for kindergarten through third grade.

Supporters say the bill would give families more authority over what is said and taught in classrooms.

The Florida bill imposes several restrictions on classroom instruction. Part of the bill provides that “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”

But the bill does not define terms like “age appropriate” or “developmentally appropriate.”

The Don’t Say Gay bill also uses an enforcement scheme similar to the Texas law that effectively bans abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, Vox reporter Ian Millhiser wrote in an article Tuesday. Under the Florida bill, parents can bring private lawsuits against school districts that violate the ban on classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity.

“This means that any school district that is even suspected of violating the law could face crushing legal fees,” Millhiser said.

At Sunday's rally for teachers in Falls Church, speakers talked about how teachers in Virginia also are growing increasingly worried about their classroom lesson plans and the books they assign to students out of fear that students or parents will report them to a tip line set up by Youngkin's office.

During his campaign for governor in 2021, Youngkin regularly attacked the quality of education across the state. His campaign latched onto campaigns by groups of conservative parents who opposed racial equity and diversity initiatives in public schools.

On his first day in office, Youngkin signed an executive order that banned the teaching of critical race theory or related "inherently divisive concepts" in the state's public schools.

Friday's walkout wasn't the first student protest at Gunston Middle School that Wiggins has witnessed in her 10 years as principal. After the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February 2018, students at Gunston held a rally against gun violence on the soccer field and conducted a sit-in at the front of the school building.

Wiggins said she tries to give her students opportunities to practice their skills in standing up for causes, like advocating for change in systems, spotlighting injustice and holding leaders accountable.

"I absolutely want middle schoolers to recognize and practice their power," she said.

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