CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. | 18-year-old high school student Adam York, who is running for the District 5 seat on the Citrus County School Board, came out as gay during a public forum June 29.
York expressed that coming out in such a public way was never intentional, as the county is predominantly conservative, but a question during a forum motivated him.
“It was a question about bullying in our schools, and I personally had a big problem with this in middle school,” remembers York. “Students were going through a bunch of changes with a different time for puberty for everyone, and we didn’t understand each other.”
Fear of the community’s reaction, York says, did not hold him back. “I wanted to be honest with the community, and instead of having this be a scandal, I wanted to be honest and talk to people. Because of that, people stood behind me.”
Although not out to the community previously, York had come out to and received support from his close friends and family before running for school board. His drive and motivation to run for the school board started his freshman year of high school in ROTC.
“Towards the end of the semester my freshman year, they had an ROTC military ball. My partner and I had gone to the dance and the school had an unspoken rule that same-sex couples cannot dance together. I had no idea about this,” says York. “So, we were asked to leave because we made other people uncomfortable.”
Outrage sparked according to York, and he spent the next three years getting involved in school and fighting cases for defense of teachers’ rights, providing due process to teachers, defending students’ rights, protecting teachers’ unions and keeping guns out of schools.
York has always been close with his community, however, and has been involved in small business associations, agricultural associations and school programs such as the National Junior Honor Society and Future Farmers of America. This involvement helped push York to run, he says.
“With politics, as soon as I got into it, I realized how much it was going on in our county and how much progress we don’t have and how much we’re holding back; how much we want to just give to stability and not grow and change with the growing world,” says York. “I realized that as the world changes, we can’t have five incumbents that are 80 years old that haven’t been in school for 40 years. We need change.”
One policy that York actively fought against – and says he “was the only one to speak out against” – was the “Coach Aaron Feis Guardian Program,” a bill Gov. Rick Scott signed allowing teachers to voluntarily carry firearms at school in March following the Parkland shooting.
“It was absolutely insane that all of them were just so willing to jump on board… like, ‘yeah, we need to give our teachers these guns,’” says York. “It scared me as a student. It scared my fellow classmates, and it scared our teachers to think that it would happen this fast.”
Against two former teachers and another high school student, York insists he is still the best choice for the school board position due to his honesty and the transparency he will maintain in the position.
“I always tell people that I’m not scripted. Every time you see us at a forum, the other three candidates will step up with their papers and they will read stuff off,” says York.“When you see me speak, I speak from the heart. I speak from experience, and I speak the truth.”
York wants to be the voice for all students, including those who are unable to come out as their true selves in Citrus County. “I deserve to be on the school board to represent the students and teachers of this county,” he says.
Additional reporting by Jeremy Williams.
Image from Adam York’s Facebook page.
