Officers are sharing racist content online, with some wearing the ‘thin blue line’ avatar, associated with white nationalism among US police
The Met was placed on special measures in June, after scandals including the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer. Photograph: Cliff Hide General News/Alamy
Police forces in the UK and across Europe are suffering from a growing “culture of extremism”, according to a report that warns of an increase in officers sharing racist and far-right content online. The report, by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), says UK policing has a growing extremist problem, and highlights issues across Europe. In France, 81% of gendarmes declared they would vote for far-right politician Marine Le Pen.
In France, Belgium, Germany and Hungary former high-ranking police officers have become extreme-right mayoral and parliamentary candidates.
In the UK, a series of recent cases involving the Metropolitan police have further damaged the reputation of a force long accused of being “institutionally racist”. They include officers sharing images on WhatsApp of two murdered black sisters. Another group of officers, at a central London station, were found to have joked about rape, killing black children and beating their wives.
The Met was last month placed on special measures after scandals including the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met officer, the strip-searching of innocent black children, and stop-and-search controversies including that of the British Olympic sprinter Bianca Williams.
Liz Fekete, director of IRR, said: “Our conclusion that the dehumanising mindset and overall sense of impunity and entitlement displayed in police WhatsApp groups is a symptom, not a cause, of authoritarian trends in policing, will no doubt make for uncomfortable reading.”
Fekete added: “Racism has become entrenched in policing as the rank and file are resituating themselves as society’s victims and organising on an ever more extremist agenda.”
The report also warns that the “thin blue line” avatar and hashtag are still seen on the Twitter feeds of police officers, including a safer neighbourhood team in London, and they have been observed on the uniforms of officers in Manchester. In the US, the thin blue line avatar and “blue lives matter” movement are associated with white nationalism, with serving and retired officers implicated in the Capitol Hill siege.
Fekete warned that the thin blue line had become a “besieged and misunderstood minority group” with a proliferation of victim narratives that represent rank-and-file officers as the aggrieved party in debates on police racism and use of force.
The report also warns of a link between racist attitudes and operational practice, particularly in relation to predictive policing and racial profiling. Last December, concerns were raised about the Met’s Operation Pima in which 61% of individuals identified within intelligence reports as the “most prolific or violent offenders” in London were black.
Ilyas Nagdee, from Amnesty International, said the research was important particularly as discussions about “alternative approaches to public safety” gained ground.
Mark Rowley was last week unveiled as the Met’s new commissioner, a figure whose previous position as its head of counter-terrorism means he is well versed in the challenges posed by extremism, both within and outside the force.
More than one in ten wild tree species is threatened by unsustainable logging
One in five people around the world rely on wild animals, plants and fungi for food and livelihoods, according to a landmark assessment.
But many wild species are not being harvested sustainably, putting food security at risk, the report found.
In 2019, experts estimated that one million plants and animals could go extinct in coming decades.
And much of this is being driven by unsustainable fishing, hunting and logging.
Now a new report by the same influential body concludes that the sustainable use of wild species is critical for people and nature.
And climate change and increased demand is likely to push more species to the brink, putting food security at risk.
IMAGE SOURCE,WILD POETS SOCIETY
Image caption,
Over-fishing threatens a third of marine fish species
The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is conservation scientists’ equivalent of the IPCC group of climate scientists.
Their most recent assessment, approved by 139 countries in Bonn, Germany, focuses on how fishing, hunting and logging can be carried out more sustainably without damaging biodiversity and food security.
It found that billions of people across the world rely on 50,000 species of wild animals, plants and fungi for food, medicine, fuel, income and other purposes.
The assessment paints a picture of widespread exploitation of nature, with about a third of wild fish in the ocean overfished, more than 10% of wild trees threatened by unsustainable logging, and more than 1,300 mammals pushed to extinction by unsustainable hunting.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
Forest being cleared for cattle ranching in Brazil
Actions that would help address these challenges include a crackdown on illegal fishing and wildlife trade; better management and certification of forests; and recognising the rights of indigenous people who look after land and forests, it said.
Dr Jean-Marc Fromentin, co-chair of the assessment for France, said rural people in developing countries were most at risk from unsustainable use, and had few alternatives, “often forcing them to further exploit wild species already at risk”.
The report found:
About 50,000 wild species are used for food, fuel, cosmetics, medicines, tourism and other purposes.
More sustainable use of wild species is critical for people and nature, with billions of people in every corner of the globe relying upon them.
The sustainability of wild species in the future is likely to be challenged by climate change, increased demand for such products, and technological advances in methods of hunting, logging and fishing.
Addressing these challenges will require “transformative changes”.
Commenting on the assessment, Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said more sustainable use of animals and plants can provide a strong incentive for conservation and living in harmony with nature.
“Today one million species are at risk of extinction,” she said. “And the unsustainable, illegal and unregulated use of species is a large part of the problem. For example, the illegal wildlife trade is a 23 billion dollar annual business that lines the deep pockets of a few unscrupulous individuals. These people get rich at the expense of nature and ecosystems.”
The 2019 IPBES global assessment alerted the world that the direct exploitation of species is one of the main reasons that one million species of plants and animals now face extinction.
The new report will provide decision-makers with evidence for enhancing the sustainable use of wild species and will feed into negotiations in Montreal later this year on setting global targets to stem the loss of biodiversity.
Ah yes, the right wings favorite tool, lie, misdirect, and misinform. Accuse, slander, make false claims, and attack anyone / anything that doesn’t walk the right wing line. Again notice the wording used to describe even just being gay or supporting equality. Hugs
Facebook and Instagram both allowed anti-LGBTQ sentiment and misinformation to proliferate despite claiming to support the LGBTQ community during Pride Month, according to a pair of Media Matters reports released this week. Both social media platforms are owned by Meta, which publicly promotes its platforms as safe spaces for LGBTQ users.
Facebook enabled right-wing media to amplify anti-LGBTQ lies during Pride month, according to Media Matters. The progressive media watchdog group found that during the month of June, right-leaning pages posted about LGBTQ and Pride nearly 3,500 times and earned just under four million interactions.
“Facebook and its parent company Meta had eagerly promoted Pride Month, adding Pride features on the platform, claiming to amplify LGBTQ creators, and reiterating the company’s supposed commitment to supporting LGBTQ people and to eliminating hate speech targeting them. But Facebook has regularly failed to remove the dangerous and dehumanizing hate speech and misinformation targeting LGBTQ people coming from right-wing outlets, figures, and groups. And this Pride Month, under Facebook’s watch, posts that amplify longstanding, baseless, and dangerous rhetoric about the LGBTQ community proliferated across the platform,” the report found.
Pages run by right-wing media outlets TheBlaze, The Western Journal, and The Daily Wire, which regularly exploit Facebook’s algorithm, spread lies and fearmongering posts about Pride events and LGBTQ people “grooming children.” Similar anti-LGBTQ posts about Pride were also found all over right-wing Facebook groups both public and private.
“During Pride Month, Meta announced it was ‘celebrating pride’ by launching Pride-themed stickers and avatars, a Global LGBTQ+ Cultural Guide, and an LGBTQ+ Safety Hub,” the report on Instagram reads. “Despite Meta’s newly announced resources, Instagram has allowed its users to spread propaganda against the LGBTQ community — and even against the same individuals it’s publicly celebrating. In several cases, these are accounts dedicated to targeting LGBTQ people, while in others, these are accounts of right-wing media outlets and personalities who also push anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Many of these posts seem to violate Meta’s policies.”
Media Matters tracked a number of right-wing accounts on Instagram – including Libs of TikTok, which has become notorious on various social media platforms for posting anti-gay propaganda and encouraging followers to harass LGBTQ people – that have been allowed to post homophobic memes and disinformation to their hundreds of thousands of followers.
As Media Matters points out, the rise in anti-LGBTQ hate on social media has coincided with a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation in state houses across the U.S. as well as Pride events being targeted by extremist groups this summer. “The false narratives right-wing figures are spinning to support these bills are being projected through online platforms and news outlets and have already led to real-world harm.”
“While some queer users are profitable for Instagram, especially during the month of June, its ongoing failure to address accounts actively spreading harmful rhetoric against the LGBTQ community make the platform’s ‘Happy Pride’ messaging hollow,” the report concludes. “Once again, Meta is showing that it will prioritize the engagement that these high-profile right-wing accounts generated through hateful, lie-filled content, even when it leads to real-world harm and the degradation of LGBTQ rights and safety.”
LGBTQ Nation reached out to Meta for comment and will update this article if they respond.
Ah the republicans are salivating over this. They dream of going this far. We all knew this was coming in Russia where they are basically making being LGBTQ+ illegal. Just existing as a gay person will be against the laws. That is the end results of the don’t say gay bills. It has been a long time goal of the religious right to return the culture to the past where only white Christian cis males have right. I can not believe in a time where around the world the smaller right wing countries are opening up and recognizing gay rights as human rights two of the largest countries are hurting backwards and establishing theocracies. Notice the wording describing just showing gay people exist as propaganda and promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships. All to make seem gay people were trying to molest, groom, teach sex to kids. The current laws states anything LGBTQ+ can not be seen by minors and that means anywhere from online, TV / movies, public spaces, cars, anywhere a minor might be able to see it. Now they want to extend that to basically anywhere anyone could see it. The entire country is off limits to display or show anything positive about LGBTQ+ yet the hate groups can still attack those people freely. They are trying to make being non heterosexual and non cis illegal and open for attack. The law maker even bragged that attempt to legalize same sex marriage is a thing of the past. That is what the right salivates to happen here. In Russia when they tried democracy LGBTQ+ acceptance was becoming very supported by the public. Laws were being changed to be more accepting. Then the religious leaders went to Putin and offered to back him, install him as the countries leader if he gave them what they wanted. He agreed and the rest is history. It is a history being repeated in the US. Why does the right wing media love Russia / Putin? Why does Fox hosts praise authoritarians worldwide especially Putin? Because these leaders / countries are hurting the same groups they hate, giving their church official status in the government / laws. Please help us defeat these people and these red state hate laws. Hugs
Gay rights activists march in Russia’s second city of St. Petersburg May 1, 2013. (OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty)
Russia lawmakers have proposed extending the country’s existing “gay propaganda” law to include people of all ages later this year.
The existing legislation was signed by Vladimir Putin in 2013 and banned any “promotion” of “non-traditional sexual relationships” among minors. Anyone found guilty under the law can be sentenced to heavy fines or imprisonment.
But Alexander Khinshtein, chairman of the State Duma’s information committee, said the 2013 law for minors is now “insufficient”, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. He said lawmakers would consider pushing the legislation further to ban depictions of the LGBTQ+ community for “audiences of all ages” in the media and online.
“We propose to fully extend the ban on that sort of propaganda among audiences of all ages (offline, media outlets, the Internet, social media, as well as in cinema theaters),” Khinshtein wrote on Telegram.
Under the proposed changes, any event or act seen as an attempt to promote the LGBTQ+ community could incur a fine, Reuters reported.
Khinshtein said his committee will consider the proposed amendments and even imposing stricter punishments for any violations of the so-called “gay propaganda law” when they are back in session in the fall.
A demonstrator holds a poster depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin with make-up. (GERARD JULIEN/AFP via Getty)
Russia’s parliamentary speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said the country would be banning the promotion of “non-traditional value” since it broke ties with the Council of Europe, the continent’s foremost human rights watchdog.
“Demands to legalise same-sex marriages in Russia are a thing of the past,” Volodin said. “Attempts to impose alien values on our society have failed.”
With students in higher education avoiding florida and businesses considering moving / no locating here, and the US military saying they will relocate service members from states that do not honor their rights I wonder if the right / Republicans will care. It is going to hurt the sports teams and economy. Hugs
Florida School Board Requires Teachers to Out Trans Students
The ruling was made in the name of parents’ rights.
A school board in Florida approved a new policy last week that would require teachers to out transgender students, in the name of parents’ rights.
All four members of the Leon County School Board voted to implement a new “LGBTQ Inclusive School Guide” after a four hour meeting, according to reporting in the Tallahassee Democrat. Although the guide professes to respect the privacy rights of LGBTQ+ youth, it also contains provisions requiring schools to inform other children and their parents if they share a physical education class, athletic team, or overnight trip with a trans student.
“Upon notification or determination of a student who is open about their gender identity, parents of the affected students will be notified of reasonable accommodation options available,” the document reads. While clearly intended to refer to students who are openly trans and nonbinary, the euphemistic language could be interpreted to refer to all young people who have a gender identity. (Agender elite rise up, apparently.)
The guide does provide protections for students’ freedom of gender expression and access to gendered facilities, as well as the formation of GSA groups and same-sex couples’ right to attend school dances in clothing that expresses their identity. But students say the new guidelines — which come on the heels of Florida’s infamous new “Don’t Say Gay” law, passed with the stated intent of expanding parental authority over LGBTQ+ education — will have a chilling effect on LGBTQ+ safety in their schools.
“The notification to all the parents can create a very stressful and unwanted situation to trans and LGBTQ students,” explained Kailey Sandell, a Leon High student who spoke at the hearing. “A lot of times kids assume that kids are gay or trans; they will easily be able to hurt them.”
“Our schools have been ground zero for anti-LGBTQ vitriol this year.”
Another district student, Benjamin Burn, said the district should be focusing instead on preventing bullying and making more facilities gender-neutral. “Trans kids want privacy,” he said. “That’s what I want, that’s what everyone wants. And trans kids honestly deserve it.”
A school board passing an anti-LGBTQ+ policy is no surprise, given a new survey that found that less than 1% of school board members nationwide identify as queer or trans.
Thousands of students across the state have protested against “Don’t Say Gay” and efforts to strip rights and protections from their LGBTQ+ peers, with some Tallahassee students marching on the Florida Capitol building itself in March. With this harmful new development, it seems certain that Florida lawmakers haven’t seen the last of their state’s pro-trans student activists.
We are watching as Florida and red states in general are fast becoming deeply and openly the home of racist bigoted white supremacist Christian nationalist and it is supported by the Republican party in charge. Florida is becoming dangerous not just for minorities but for anyone that doesn’t follow the public demands of these gang members. Let’s be honest, the Proud Boys is a gang of thugs that found official recognition / elevation as a public group by the former president who used them to try to overturn an election. This was one of the gangs that tRump turned to that was willing to use violence to stop the will of the majority of the people. This gang is a small minority supported by a larger minority called the Republican party because the gang is willing to use violence and threats of harm to force the public to live by the Republican dictates of returning the culture to 1850. We have a minority political party so desperate to rule and retain power that they are willing to use force against the majority to do it. Hugs
Newspaper opinion pages are often criticized for having a political bias, but one Florida paper showed the pitfalls of a poorly-executed attempt to tell both sides of the story.
An op-ed published on Sunday by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune defended local school board candidates’ alleged association with the Proud Boys by claiming the group’s members were simply “caring parents” who were being unfairly attacked for their conservative political views.
Oh, and the paper failed to disclose the author is married to a Proud Boy herself. To be clear, the Proud Boys have a documented history of criminal activities and violent altercations that date back several years.
I was going to excerpt the op-ed but in the time since I started this post, it has been deleted from the paper’s website. There’s a full screenshot here.
An obvious journalism fail from the Sarasota Herald Tribune and also just gross. https://t.co/JnikaR2NUk
I'll be honest. I know Melissa a little. We have had pleasant discourse. But when fascism and white supremacy are denied, or worse revered, it's #fullstop. Her public FB profile is full of more than sympathizer posts, like this one. 3/7 pic.twitter.com/aNqarjc6Ti
— Jules Souliere, What the Florida? (@what_the_fla) July 10, 2022
This place is scum. Its the only place in all my world travels I ever got f@g bashed. The police also told me as the victim to let it go when I pressed for them to do something after I hunted down the truck of the guys who jumped me. After I told the police the plate number. After I told them the address the truck stayed parked at I was told to drop it. That place is full of rich old white money and very poor kept in their place black people. Fuck Sarasota. May a hurricane come and destroy the entire waterfront where the money is. All of it
The “Proud Boys – D.C. Street Sweepers” t-shirt tells you all you need to know. If members of BLM had attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6th, the author of the op-ed piece would have been singing a very different tune. She would have called them traitors and demanded they be executed. But since the insurrectionists were her husband and his White Nationalist friends she claims they were “caring parents” who were being unfairly attacked for their conservative political views.
Please notice the section on homeless LGBTQ+ kids. Yes students kicked out of their homes because they are LGBTQ+. Homeless kids for being gay or trans. How do you think they survive, what do they have to do? How the hell can they have an education when they are sleeping in orange groves, cars, and other people’s … Why are these kids kicked out of their homes? Bigotry and hate. What does the push by the Republicans to demonize the LGBTQ+ and the don’t say gay bills do, they increase that bigotry. They give hateful foster families and others the idea that these horrible LGBTQ+ have no worth and must be punished, that they don’t belong in a decent home. You know it has to be horrible for a kid in their home when it is safer to stay in a school that they are bullied in after school hours. How bad does home have to be. Read the article, I wish these Republicans that are pushing this hate would understand that they are saying to these kids is hide / don’t dare be out and seen, you shouldn’t exist. To the students with hateful parents that love these don’t say gay bills and the banning of book with LGBTQ+ content what it says is that it is OK to attack and target those kids, the ones you / your parents want to not be there. Plus you have adults attacking kids as pedophiles because they are gay or forming gay support clubs. How hateful and misinformed but that is what the right had been pushing, just being LGBTQ+ means you want to rape and little kids. Horrible what absolute power in the hands of Republicans can cause. And to the religious groups happy and proud of this effect on kids let me ask when Jesus said to let the kids come to him did he say but only the straight ones? Hugs
For queer students, school is a place that can hurt and heal.
WINTER PARK, Fla. — Nearly a dozen Winter Park High School students settled into a classroom, forming a semi-circle around 17-year-old Will Larkins, who sat cross-legged on a desk.
It was the school’s first Queer Student Union meeting since March, when the group led a school-wide walkout to protest state legislation intended to limit classroom discussion on gender and sexual orientation. Critics have dubbed the measure the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Will, the head of the club, wanted to get a sense of how everyone was feeling.
“For the most part, it was actually really positive,” said Echo Izzo, a 19-year-old senior who was near the front of the group that day.
Though the protest didn’t stop Florida’s governor from signing the bill into law, to the students who led the event, it was still a success. Hundreds of their classmates in this Orlando suburb walked out of school for nearly an hour that day, chanting “We say gay.”
But not all the students showed up in support. On the fringes of the crowd, a teenager danced across a rainbow flag that had been tossed in the dirt.
That act wasn’t surprising, a Queer Student Union member said. What shocked them was just how many students actually joined them in a show of solidarity.
“I totally felt like 50 people would show up,” Will said.
A year ago, Winter Park High’s Queer Student Union didn’t exist. Now, its members have found themselves on the front lines of Florida’s ongoing attempt to restrict what can be talked about at school. The measure the students protested, formally known as the “Parental Rights in Education” law, bans instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation from kindergarten through third grade, as well as instruction that is not age- and developmentally appropriate at all grade levels.
Proponents say the law ensures parents are in charge of what their children learn about sensitive topics. Opponents say it will have a chilling effect. Though the measure specifically targets curriculum and discussion in K-3 classrooms, some educators and advocates worry it could also cut LGBTQ kids in higher grades off from support.
“At the high school level, I think it will create anxiety and maybe hesitancy by staff to have some of the open conversations that they may have,” said Dawn Young, who is the advisor for the Queer Student Union and a mentor for students. “I think it will affect the kids feeling that it means something is wrong with them.”
Will at Winter Park High School
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Will poses for a portrait in his bedroom
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For queer students, school is a place that can hurt and heal. It can be a safe space away from challenging home lives, but it can also be a source of pain. LGBTQ+ students reported being bullied on school grounds at nearly twice the rate of their straight peers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Winter Park High, a school of more than 3,400 students, sits in a suburb of Orlando, a city the U.S. Census reports as having among the highest concentration of same-sex households in the country.
The school is also less than 10 miles from PULSE, a gay night club where 49 people were murdered in what was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Members of the Queer Student Union were in elementary and middle school when it happened.
Since the Queer Student Union was formed in November of 2021, its members have tried to bring visibility to LGBTQ issues. They have run voter registration drives, put up posters that say “Being gay is NOT a choice,” and they’ve been meeting with administrators to find ways to prevent bullying in school bathrooms.
Will closed the meeting with ideas for next year.
“What problems in the school can Queer Student Union solve, and what should we do as a club to keep engaging and be useful?” Will asked the group.
The students agreed they wanted to see more history lessons on the gay rights movement and presentations on why jokes about LGBTQ people are hurtful.
It’s unclear if the newly enacted law will affect those plans.
Winter Park High sits in a region that is less welcoming than other parts of the country to gay, lesbian and transgender youth, according to a 2021 survey by the Trevor Project, an advocacy and support organization.
Youth in the South reported higher rates of mental health issues and less access to affirming spaces compared to their peers in other regions of the country, the survey found.
“There’s definitely been an increase in anti-LGBTQ policy and rhetoric, and we’re seeing a lot of this happening in the states in the South,” said Myeshia Price, a senior research scientist with the Trevor Project. “LGBTQ youth have had to grapple with these hostile political climates, and to have their identities being debated and discussed right in front of them is undoubtedly having some negative impact on their mental health.”
A rainbow is seen inside Winter Park High School
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Winter Park High School in Orlando
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For some students, school is the only safe place.
On most days at Winter Park High, Echo can be found waiting in the parking lot hours after the bell rings. That is where they wait to be picked up by a friend’s mom.
Echo started living on the streets of Winter Haven, Florida in 2021 because of a volatile home-life. Echo temporarily moved into a Christian homeless shelter, but when shelter employees found out they are trans, they were kicked out.
For several weeks, they slept at bus stops and in an orange grove near school.
“I was kind of desensitized,” Echo said. “I stopped letting myself hope by that point.”
Echo moved into an LGBTQ-friendly shelter about an hour away, in Winter Park, at the beginning of last school year. They met a friend at Winter Park High and moved in with his family a few months later.
Echo often hangs out in a courtyard at school for several hours, and this week in April was no different.
“I try to involve myself in as much as I can so I’m not just sitting here,” Echo said.
Even though Echo has found their niche at Winter Park High, school has always been complicated.
They have attended 15 different schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. Most of those transitions happened in elementary school after Echo entered the foster care system in second grade.
By third grade, Echo knew they were queer, but they didn’t come out until sixth grade. In 11th grade, Echo realized they are nonbinary.
But their foster family was not supportive, and neither were some students at school.
“It was a lot more safe than home, but it was definitely not safe,” Echo said.
Echo practices piano
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Echo poses for a portrait
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When Echo came out as nonbinary, they felt clearheaded for the first time. They still feel that way at Winter Park, even though it is a new place with problems of its own.
Sometimes, students make comments that alienate Echo. In April, a student in one of Echo’s classes criticized how much LGBTQ+ people have been speaking out about Florida’s new law.
“They said, in their words, ‘No one cares if you’re gay, just stop talking about it,’” Echo said. “We can’t just exist and not talk about it. We can’t just live a peaceful existence, because there’s always going to be people questioning us, making jokes, making threats.”
When Echo first heard that Florida’s new law was on its way to passing, they were distraught.
“It was the idea that something like this could pass and students like them would not be able to have a safe space that they could express themselves, because they couldn’t do that at home,” Young said.
Some students, like Will, are changing the status quo one class at a time.
In March, Will gave a presentation to his history class about the Stonewall riots — a famous 1969 protest in New York City that helped spark the gay rights movement. A video of the lesson went viral on Twitter.
Will is confident about his convictions. He speaks out against banning books at school board meetings, attends legislative hearings, and when strangers online asked why he wore a dress to school in that viral Stonewall video, his response was: “Because I wanted to.”
But being gay in high school has not been easy. When Will started speaking out about the new law, people began messaging him online telling him he is a pedophile and that he should kill himself. He’s talked candidly about struggling with mental health.
“When sixth grade rolled around, I started to realize I liked boys and not girls, and still having not been exposed to other queer people, the self-hatred only festered,” Will said at an Orange County School District board meeting in March.
His mental health worsened last fall, after students bullied him at a Halloween party, yelling at him and calling him slurs.
“I just became so depressed,” Will said.
It wasn’t until after the party he realized most of his LGBTQ+ friends were also dealing with similar issues. It was then that Young, the mentor, encouraged him and a friend to start the Queer Student Union.
Since then, school has become a safer space for Will, even though the students who bullied him are still there.
“I’ve gotten to the point now where the hateful people are such a small minority,” Will said.
He’s outgrown them. The space in his head that was once focused on bullying is now consumed by his plans for the future.
This spring, Will decided to run for student body representative.
In April, Will stood tall in his backyard. The sun would be going down soon, and he had one take to get this last scene right for his campaign video. His dad steadied the cellphone and told Will he was ready.
Will smiled for the camera.
“Even though it’s my first year at Winter Park High School, I’ve already made a splash,” Will said as he raised his arms over his head and dived into the pool.
The election took place a few weeks later. He didn’t win, but he didn’t have long to dwell on it. The same day he found out he lost, he was told he won a Webby Award — alongside two other Florida teens — for championing the “Say Gay” movement online. The awards honor “excellence on the Internet” and are presented in New York City.
“My goal was to make the school better for everyone, and I’m not going to stop trying to do that because I lost an election,” Will said.
IMAGE SOURCE,RICH CAREY
IMAGE SOURCE,WILD POETS SOCIETY
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Scottie's Playtime 