Hey, Miami-Dade School Board members, where was your backbone on the LGBTQ vote? | Editorial

The Proud Boys stood outside in a show of force for intolerance. Parents and members of the public openly used mean anti-LGBTQ language. And the Miami-Dade County School Board displayed the opposite of a profile in courage.

The vote against the recognition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer History Month in October — an item the School Board approved almost unanimously last year, and with little fanfare — shows that when under pressure from the culture wars unleashed by Gov. DeSantis, our board members pick the easy route.

Not all of them. One member, Lucia Baez-Geller, stood by her proposal to celebrate the LGBTQ community and to teach 12th-graders about two landmark Supreme Court decisions that gave the community the right to marry and maintain employment. By the way, parents who are bothered by their children being exposed to such historical facts could’ve opted out of those lessons.

As for the eight members who voted against the measure — many of whom had voted for it last year — we can only lament their excuses.

Mari Tere Rojas said, “It is time to focus on the basics,” like student achievement and school security. Lubby Navarro professed that her constituents, many of them immigrant farm workers, have more important things to worry about like academics and lack of school supplies.

Nothing about an LGBTQ history month interferes with math and English lessons. In fact, as Baez-Geller explained in the Wednesday meeting, last year’s celebrations were observed during extracurricular activities like student clubs — and on a voluntary basis. No one was forced to fly the rainbow flag.

That schools already observe Hispanic Heritage Month and the National Day of Prayer, among others, flies in the face of board members who say they only want to focus on the “basics.” This sudden austerity on the part of Rojas, Navarro — and other members who resorted to the same argument — is ironic, to say the least. The School Board spends a considerable portion of its meetings patting itself on the back and handing out awards and accolades.

“My responsibility here is to follow the law and represent a diverse community,” Navarro said, apparently forgetting that a “diverse community” also includes parents who support LGBTQ rights.

The law Navarro referred to is the parental-rights measure the Florida Legislature approved this year that critics dubbed “Don’t say gay.” Republicans have objected to that nickname, but the School Board decision proves that the law’s true intent is to strip public education of any mention of this community. That’s despite the fact that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people have existed and fought for their rights throughout history.

While an LGBTQ history month is only a symbolic gesture, its purpose is to bring visibility to Americans who often have been stereotyped and dehumanized — to prevent the same intolerance that we heard at Wednesday’s meeting.

The School Board’s own attorney said an LGBTQ history month does not run afoul of the “Don’t say gay” law. The latter prohibits instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation in K-3 or in a manner that’s not “age appropriate” in other grades.

Vice-Chair Steve Gallon said that, despite the lawyer’s green light, he’s not entirely sure the School Board wouldn’t create a “degree of legal uncertainty.”

Certainly, any action by schools regarding LGBTQ issues now will be under scrutiny by DeSantis and conservative activists ready to file complaints, no matter how frivolous, as a way to intimidate school officials. But we also must wonder whether board members are using the law as a shield for their own prejudices.

We will never know what’s truly in the hearts and minds of elected officials. But some members of the public made it explicitly clear that ugly, dehumanizing rhetoric is alive and well. There were accusations that the board was engaging in indoctrination, pushing an “LGBTQ agenda” and promoting the sexual abuse of children, an old homophobic trope used against gay men.

The cries against “indoctrination” usually come from people with little understanding of what actually happens in schools. They should listen to the 17-year-old elected by students to represent them before the School Board. Interrupted by some audience members — the alleged adults in the room — who called her a “child” after she disagreed with one of Navarro’s remarks, Andrea S. Pita Mendez rebutted:

“I’m a 17-year-old child, but I have the ability to think for myself and form my own opinions as well, based on the factual evidence. . . . You do not form the relationships that we [students] form with our teachers. You do not see our counselors. You are not in those hallways every single day. We are.”

Pita Mendez said the majority of students she consulted support an LGBTQ history month. The issue appears to have triggered a small, but loud, minority still uncomfortable with the prominence the LGBTQ community has gained in recent years. They will use religion, parental rights or the next buzz word du jour to impose their beliefs. And, unfortunately, they are winning — this time, because the School Board let them.

The School Board of the largest and most diverse county in Florida proved that, when pressured by culture wars, it will cower.

This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 5:32 PM.