Students across Iowa take part in walkouts to protest LGBTQ bills
Hundreds of Iowa students took part in a school walkout Wednesday to protest a slew of proposed state legislation that they say discriminates against LGBTQ students.
Students from 26 high schools and two colleges coordinated the walkouts to take place throughout the day across the state.
IowaWTF, a coalition of high school students that fights “discriminatory legislation,” and the Iowa Queer Student Alliance, a group for LGBTQ high school and college students, organized the day of protests.
Jemma Bullock, a member of the Iowa QSA, said the group is leading walkouts for two reasons: to educate students about the bills under consideration in the state Legislature and to get the attention of the lawmakers behind those bills.
“We are trying to make it so that it’s impossible for those in power to ignore us,” said Bullock, who is a senior at Ankeny High School, just north of Des Moines. “Because right now, there are people who are going to the Capitol and attending those public hearings about these bills — they have been teachers, psychiatrists, doctors, students, parents, administrators, all sorts of people who come and say, ‘This is harmful. This will have bad effects. This will cause bullying, it will cause depression and anxiety and it will not be safe for the LGBTQ+ community in our schools.’ And they just will not listen.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/students-iowa-take-part-walkouts-protest-lgbtq-bills-rcna72897?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_mtp
