High school students in at least 20 different Iowa districts staged walk outs yesterday to protest bills in the legislature that they say unfairly target LGBTQ youth.
“I know I speak for a lot of students in the school when I say that a lot of people just want to remember their high school years as something normal, something fun like everyone else, but the Iowa legislators are making that really hard for a certain group of students,” said Emma Dierking, president of the sophomore class at Storm Lake High School. “It’s unfair that students should have to hide who they are because there are laws against it and it doesn’t stand for what our country is supposed to stand for when it’s supposed to be liberty and freedom for all.”
Dozens of Storm Lake students joined the walk out. Evan Anderson, who is transgender, said he was physically and verbally abused at his previous school and transferred into the Storm Lake district at the beginning of this school year.
“It got to a point where I couldn’t take it and I felt like my only way out was suicide, but luckily I’m able to come here today and I am so grateful that there are so many of you here that are so supportive, so thank you,” Anderson said, to cheers.
A student who goes by the name Atticus also addressed the crowd in Storm Lake. “My old school was very, very transphobic, homophobic and I’ve always been raised in an unsupportive household,” the student said. “…I’m coming out. I am trnsgender and my dad’s probably going to see this and he’s probably not going to like it, but this is who I am and I can’t change that.”
Storm Lake sophomore Andrea Ornelas said she has friends and family who are part of the LGBTQ community. “I love this school because they accept you guys,” Ornelas said. “…You are human, you are people and I love you guys.”
In eastern Iowa, about 100 Iowa City students walked from their high school to the University of Iowa campus to protest. Some central Iowa students protested outside the governor’s residence. Others rallied in the Iowa Capitol rotunda, chanting “we say gay.” The chant, which became a theme of yesterday’s protests, is a reference to a bill introduced in Iowa and other states to ban classroom discussions about sexual orientation in elementary schools. The bill is sometimes called the “don’t say gay” bill. Protests in support of LGBTQ students were also held at Grinnell College and Iowa State University.
(Reporting by Ryan Thompson, KAYL, Storm Lake and Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson)