Equality Florida press secretary Brandon Wolf hosts a press conference to launch new Parenting With Pride program. (Photo by Jeremy Williams)
ORLANDO | Equality Florida, the state’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, held a press conference outside the Orange County Public Schools building in Orlando Aug. 15 to launch its new Parenting With Pride program.
Parenting With Pride, which was created as a response to the many anti-LGBTQ+ laws that were passed in the state’s most recent legislative session as well as to debunk misinformation from groups such as Moms For Liberty, will bring together LGBTQ+ organizations and resources for Florida parents to utilize.
“As the attacks on families have escalated, as books have been ripped from shelves, class schedules have been upended, support systems for students have been dismantled, Black history has been censored, curriculum has been whitewashed and propagandized, as schools have been made less safe and less welcoming for all students, the need for support has escalated dramatically,” said Equality Florida Press Secretary Brandon Wolf at the press conference.
The program has more than 1,000 families involved already from all across the state.
“Families that are represented in the program already spanned from Pensacola to Key West,” said Wolf. “We’ve held a number of informational town halls and virtual briefings to help them understand the implications of legislation that’s already passed in Tallahassee. People have questions about bathrooms, they have questions about pronouns and books and curriculum and AP courses, and we’ve been able to get them in touch with experts to help walk them through the implications of those laws.”
During the press conference, several LGBTQ+ organizational leaders who are also parents to children attending Florida public schools spoke including All About the Ballots executive director Cassandra Brown, Florida Freedom to Read Project co-founder Jen Cousins, Hope CommUnity Center LGBTQ immigration coordinator Andrea Montanez, Seminole County PTA President Shelly Pedraza, Zebra Coalition executive director Heather Wilkie and Come Out With Pride Orlando executive director Tatiana Quiroga.
“Being part of an LGBTQ+ family comes with so many trials and tribulations yet at the same time with so many joys and victories because we so intentionally create our families,” Quiroga said. “So to know that we are in a time where the state of Florida is trying to erase us, telling us that these efforts are being done in the name of parent rights, the true question has to be for which parents and who’s rights.”
Equality Florida’s Parenting With Pride website has already gone live and includes a wide array of resources including information on anti-bullying, banned books, GSAs, legal support and more. The information is also broken into categories depending on who is looking to access it whether it be students, teachers or parents.
“Parenting With Pride is about so many things but at its core it’s about demanding a Florida that is better,” Wolf said. “It’s about demanding a Florida that is safer, that is more welcoming, that is more open, that is more equal, that is more free. Demanding a Florida where every single student is protected and every single family is respected.”
You can find more information, as well as tools and resources, at ParentingWithPride.org.
To watch the full press conference go here.
