Will Larkins is a junior at Winter Park High School in Winter Park, Florida.

Read the story and hear him (them?) speak to the Florida legislature.  A smidgen of the New York Times.com opinion piece:

“I have come to realize that those who have been so openly hateful toward me often knew little about the queer community — they thought being L.G.B.T.Q. was a conscious choice. Education didn’t just give me a sense of self worth but also the knowledge of a community and lifeline there for countless young people.

“L.G.B.T.Q. teens are four times more likely to commit suicide than their straight counterparts. According to the Trevor Project, a crisis intervention and suicide prevention organization for young gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer people, teens who learned about L.G.B.T.Q. issues or people in school were 23 percent less likely to attempt suicide. We have a mental health crisis in the queer community, and Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party want to outlaw the solution….”

What a brave, remarkable young person this is, who led a protest march from school with 500 other students, in Florida. Go to the Times and see and hear his testimony,

Image by Todd Anderson….nytimes.com March 12, 2022