Kalie Arnold
Thesis:
The don’t say gay bills aims to “protect” children without taking into account the potential mental health effects these bills will have on LGBTQ youth and their families.
Question:
Will these policies negatively impact LGBTQ youth?
Background on the bill:
HB1557 was introduced by republican Florida governor Ron Desantis in 2022. This bill aims to prohibit instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in schools. “To prohibit the use of Federal funds to develop, implement, facilitate, or fund any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10, and for other purposes.””
Methodology:
The method I am using is interviewing 5 people in the LGBTQ community (and maybe a couple people who don’t identify as LGBTQ and/or who support the bill)
Questions:
- Do you identify as LGBTQIA? How much do you know about the don’t say gay bills?
- Do you think that same sex relationships should be talked about openly at school?
- In these bills there is no mention of a ban on opposite sex relationships conversations, if legislators want to ban the conversation on same sex relationships/identity, should they also ban opposite sex conversations?
- How do you think these bills will impact LGBTQIA youth?
- Do you think these bills will negatively impact or positively affect the learning experience?
- Do you think these bills will have no impact?
- If you answered question 1 saying you do identify as LGBTQ could you share your coming out story?
a. What was it like for you to come out?
b. Do you think it will be harder for these students to accept their sexuality with these laws? - Do you think these laws will impact the mental health of LGBTQ youths?
- In what ways do you think sexuality/gender identity should be discussed at school?
Expected findings:
I expect to find that these bills will have a negative impact on LGBTQ individuals and their mental health.”