Hal PomeranzI am incredibly sad to be writing this on the first day of Pride month, but Mama Mia, here we go again...
Last year Seminole County (Florida) Public Schools found themselves receiving national attention for attempting to censor LGBTQ+ content in the Lyman High School yearbook. https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2022/05/10/yearbook-fight-pits-lyman-high-students-against-seminole-school-officials/ After massive public outcry, the School Board reversed Superintendent Serita Beamon's order and the books went out to students without the content being covered up.
Here we are one year later and once again Serita Beamon is attempting to censor LGBTQ+ content in the Lyman Yearbook. This year's debacle was energized by Lyman parent Sharmon Craft and an astroturf campaign thanks to her "Mom's For Liberty" cronies. https://www.foxnews.com/media/florida-yearbook-defining-lgbtq-terms-genderfluid-pansexual-parent-outrage
Former Lyman student and yearbook editor Madi Koesler does an excellent job of explaining where we are in the current fight and suggesting how you can help: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs7UNyFOZC4/ If you are in the greater Orlando area, we would love to see you at the School Board meeting this Tuesday. If you are not local, please make your voices heard via email.
My wife Danielle has been a teacher and the yearbook advisor at Lyman for the last five years, so please allow me to add a bit of additional color commentary to what has already been reported.
Even after the School Board ordered the books not to be censored last year, Serita Beamon lawyered the decision and attempted to introduce changes not authorized by the School Board. This led to further delays and negotiations around releasing last year's book.
In her email to parents this year, Beamon notes that the yearbook is subject to review prior to publication. The email leaves open whether or not the book was reviewed. I can assure you that the book was reviewed prior to publication and no concerns were raised about this content until Sharmon Craft and the Mom's for Liberty crew got involved.
You may also be interested at this point in reading the Student Press Law Center's brief article on prior review vs. prior restraint in student publications: https://splc.org/2020/10/ask-splc-what-is-the-difference-between-prior-restraint-and-prior-review/
In the email to parents, Beamon offers to allow parents to trade in their current yearbook for a new yearbook with the offending two-page spread blanked out. Understand that the Lyman yearbook has already been published and distributed to students. Providing new books with a blank spread will require printing another (short) run of yearbooks at the cost of thousands of dollars. Surely this is not an appropriate use of school funds given the already unprecedentedly low public school funding levels.
Conservative estimates are that 9-10% of the high school age population identifies as LGBTQ+. By erasing these two pages (less than 1% of the total yearbook) we erase their identities and lives from the Lyman community. This must not stand.
As was said in the 1980's, "We here. We're queer. Get used to it!"
