Road to 2024—LGBTQ Kids Under Attack: Cooper, Miami, Florida
Leading up to the 2024 Presidential election, Uncloseted Media is featuring the voices of LGBTQ kids from different states where queer kids rights are under attack. This is Coopers's story.
In 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis set off a media firestorm when he signed the “Parental Rights in Education Act,” also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, into law. The law prohibits public schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity from pre-K through 8th grade. It also requires schools to notify parents when children receive mental, emotional or physical health services related to their gender identity or sexuality and it bars schools from requiring that students or instructors refer to each other with pronouns that do not align with their assigned sex at birth.
Florida is also enforcing SC 254, a bill that prohibits minors from accessing gender affirming care. And the state recently passed the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” which restricts trans girls from participating on athletic teams that match their gender identity.
These laws have shaped how LGBTQ youth have experienced school in Florida. GLSEN, an advocacy organization working to end bullying and discrimination of LGBTQ youth, found that only 12% of LGBTQ students were taught positive representations of LGBTQ people, history, or events in school and only 3% of LGBTQ students in Florida reported receiving queer inclusive sex education at school.
In a conversation with Uncloseted Media, Cooper Solomon, a 13 year-old gay gender non-conforming student in 8th grade in Miami, shared his experience going to school and growing up in Florida during a time of intense anti-LGBTQ animus from elected officials in his state.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
What does school look like for you?
I have a very accepting school. I have a bathroom of my own that I go to. I have a bunch of friends. All my teachers treat me fairly. None of them, like, treat me differently. I’m in my school's student government and in dance.
Tell me about your friends, what is your circle like?
I'm the only one who's queer but no one is like, ‘Oh, you're queer,’ so like they treat me differently. Everyone just sees me the same. Like, no different than anybody else.
Some kids have a very hard time in school and are less lucky than you when it comes to friends. What would you say to kids experiencing bullying for being LGBTQ?
I don't think they should let it affect them. I mean, it's 2024. I don't think anybody should be treating queer kids differently. No one should be treated differently just because they like a guy or girl or because of the way they look. So I think you just need to not let those words affect you and just be confident.
How is it growing up in Florida right now with all of the laws and bills?
I wish politicians like the governor would just live their lives and stop trying to hurt people like me.
Like with the sports ban, if I could, I would play those sports. Some of my friends play lacrosse on the girls’ team and I wouldn't do well on a guy's team. I don't look like a guy. I would love it if I could play with all of my friends on the girls team, but because of all the laws, I can't, which is kind of sad. And I just think they should just live their lives and stop coming after us. Just let us live.
I don't know why these full grown adults are attacking kids that are just trying to live their life and just have fun and do good in school and play sports with their friends.
Does it ever get exhausting feeling like you have to be this kid advocate against these laws? How does it make you feel having to talk to me even in the first place and that we even have to have this conversation?
I do like speaking out but I wish we could just let kids have their childhood. I don't want to be fighting against the governor. I just want him to let me be me and just do school and have fun and hang out with my friends and play sports that I would like to play. I just think that everyone should have a childhood. And these governors, they aren't letting us do that.
What does fighting against them look like for you?
Well I'm going to speak up because I can't vote. But I think everybody who can vote, should vote so the kids can just have fun. I love Miami, I love Florida. I'm going to fight against them. I'm not going to let them make me leave the state.
Our governor isn't accepting, but our president right now is. And he knows that these people are trying to hurt us, and he just wants to celebrate us for who we are. A lot of people in Florida like the governor don’t support me but to know that the commander in chief does makes me feel safe.
Do your friends know about everything that is happening to LGBTQ kids in Florida?
Most kids don’t know about this because their parents don’t educate them on it but I think it’s very good to know what’s happening in your state and in your country. A lot of my friends and my extended group don't really know what's happening. But I educate them on it. So when they're older and they can vote, they vote for the right people who won't hurt kids like me.
There are a lot of conversations about what schools are allowed to teach their students and what role teachers play. There are accusations that teachers are ‘grooming’ kids to become gay. What do you think about that?
I think that's crazy. I don't think a teacher can change you. I think that teachers that are accepting and say[ing] “it's okay to be gay” makes queer students feel more safe in class. Like if you're taking a test, I won't have to worry about if my teacher doesn't like me because of this.
My sister was a teacher and she's a lesbian and she left because in Florida she didn't feel comfortable being a teacher. She couldn't be her true self. And I think a lot of teachers are leaving because the governor is saying, ‘You can't do this, you can't do that.’
What would your advice be to anyone who might be really struggling with all of these laws?
It will get better. I hope they know that it will get better. We will fight and we’re going to end up winning.
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Love this, so powerful. We will fight and we will win. Together!