On Wednesday, September 7, numerous speakers at the Miami-Dade School Board meeting were given the opportunity to speak on an item that would recognize October as LGBTQ History Month.
After a long, tense discussion, the majority of the Miami-Dade School Board voted in opposition to the item because they thought it was in conflict with Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Bill, which prohibits classroom discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity in lower grade levels.
School board members, including Vice Chair of the Board Perla Tabares Hantman, Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, and Steve Gallon Ill, declared their opposition to H-11, the item that would have authorized the designation.
District 9 representative Tabares Hantman said that, who will leave office in November and represents District 4, said, “We have to be in compliance with the law.”
LGBTQ History Month is already nationally recognized. Rodney Wilson, a teacher at Mehlville High School in suburban St. Louis is credited with creating LGBTQ+ History Month. Wilson chose October because the first LGBTQ+ marches in Washington occurred during that month.
Last year, M-DCPS board members voted for the designation of the month 7-1, but this year, all changed their vote with the exception of Lucia Baez-Geller.
Andrea S. Pita Mendez, the Miami-Dade County Public School Student Advisor and a non-voting member, was present at the meeting. Mendez, 17, supported the acknowledgment of LGBTQ History Month after speaking to her peers.
“Our students want this to pass,” Mendez stated. Students at MLEC would have loved for this bill to be passed.
“I think that the LGBTQ+ Month should be recognized in middle school and higher so that leaves the younger students time to develop without background knowledge on the topic”, Shania Herring, a sophomore in the Academy of Entrepreneurship, said.
Aurora, the president of the Equal Rights Alliance (ERA) club is disappointed but not surprised about this ruling. “It’s very upsetting, but that’s just what most figures of authority do. They just kind of censor us as kids that are just confused and do not know what they are doing.”
“The LGBTQ curriculum is not currently offered in Miami-Dade County schools,” said Baez-Geller. “This subject does not indoctrinate pupils. Students are not subjected to an agenda by it.”
