The Miami-Dade School Board overwhelmingly voted to reject recognizing October as “LGBTQ History Month.”
After listening to three hours of heated debate, the board voted 8-1 Wednesday evening to strike down the measure that would also have included teaching 12th graders about Supreme Court cases Obergefell v. Hodges (inventing the constitutional right to gay marriage) and Bostock v. Clayton County (adding a “sexual orientation” protection to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964).
Last year, the board voted 7-1 in favor of defining October as “LGBTQ History Month,” something that did not include teaching about Obergefell or Bostock.
The lone vote in favor was school board member Lucia Baez Geller, who proffered the measure.
“There is an election year and the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is a tool used by some to spread misinformation,” she said, according to the Miami Herald. “This is just plain disinformation.”
The outlet also reported there were 35 to 45 people waiting in line to comment in support or against the measure.
Those who spoke in favor of the measure argued that the passage of the measure would create a “safe and reaffirming environment.”
Maxx Fenning, who is in charge of PRISM FL which, according to the Herald is a “nonprofit organization that provides sexual health information to LGBTQ+ youth” took it several steps further by comparing those against the measure to Nazis.
He spoke with a pink triangle on his shirt in a reference to the pink triangle Nazis made gay people wear, saying, “LGBTQ history is American history.”
The all-too-predictable tactics from the left comparing those who disagree with them to Nazis did not sway the board, however.
Many who spoke against the measure were concerned that it was yet another instance of a school board attempting to indoctrinate children, with one pastor telling the Herald that it was a “Trojan horse.” Other opponents brought up parental rights and responsibilities in teaching their children about LGBTQ persons.
While Florida passed the Parental Rights in Education bill, it only prohibits the teaching of sexual orientation through third grade. Miami-Dade’s measure to teach about the Supreme Court cases was for 12th graders, but the district would still regard the entire month of October as one defined by different sexual orientations.
Baez Geller insisted that parents and students could opt out of the Supreme Court portion of the measure.
The vote comes as the Miami-Dade County School Board flipped to conservative control on August 23 — though, new members are not set to take office until November.
Miami-Dade is the country’s fourth largest public school district.
Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.
