Miami-Dade Public Schools to consider LBGTQ resolution
MIAMI – Miami-Dade County Public Schools is considering an LBGTQ resolution for the month of October during Wednesday’s school board meeting.
“The month of October has been established to remind all cultures within our wider community of the important roles that LBGTQ people have taken in social, historical, legal and political worlds we live in today,” the resolution reads.
“Miami-Dade County Public Schools is firmly committed to school safety for all students, staff, and family members, including the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LBGTQ) community, or those that may be perceived as such, and to creating a positive school climate by maintaining a safe environment and developing a sense of belonging for all students and staff,” the resolution continued.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools said it wants all students to have “equal rights” free from “discrimination and harassment.”
The resolution follows a similar proposal by the board regarding LBGTQ history month in 2022. The proposed resolution was rejected in an 8-1 vote after parents believed, in an attempt to indoctrinate, it conflicted with the state’s Parental Rights in Education law.
“I do believe this is in direct violation of our parental rights bill, if not so directly, in spirit, it is,” school board member Christi Fraga said. “Because this is saying a full endorsement in the entire district of this month – that includes Kindergarten through 12th grade.”
LBGTQ History Month started in 1994. A year later, a resolution was approved by the General Assembly of the National Education Association to include LBGTQ History Month in the calendar.
According to the resolution, LGBTQ youth are more than four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers, in research conducted by the CDC and the Trevor Project.
In addition, transgender and nonbinary youth were 2 to 2.5 times as likely to experience depressive related symptoms, or attempt and consider suicide, to their cisgender peers, according to the Journal of Adolescent Health.
