The Brevard County School Board voted 3-2 to adopt a new non-discrimination policy at all Brevard County public schools that would include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity on July 19.
School board members Andy Ziegler, Amy Kneessy and Misty Belford voted to pass the non-discrimination measure, while members John Craig and Karen Henderson opposed adding in the protections.
More than 100 people from both sides of the argument packed into the audience hoping to have their say to the five person board.
The school board heard public opinion from nearly 60 people during the six hour meeting; those in support of the measure dressed in red and displayed handmade signs with phrases like “Straight Against Hate” and “Queer Without Fear.”
The opposition, which had been spearheaded by the Liberty Counsel, along with the two dissenting board members have said that those who support this change in policy are trying to reinterpret the law.
The changes to the Brevard County School Board’s discrimination policy has been in the works since late 2015. A meeting held by the school board in March of this year seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for the policy change when the Liberty Counsel flooded the meeting with speakers and the board voted to move the issue to a workshop.
Since then, LGBT advocates managed to get the policy back up for vote and were successful in helping to get it passed.
