Polk school superintendent recommends removal of LGBTQ pride proclamation from agenda

Pro-LGBTQ+ groups are promising to show up Tuesday at the Polk County School Board meeting to express their displeasure with superintendent Frederick Heid’s recommendation that the school board pull a Pride Month proclamation off its agenda.

“The superintendent is recommending to board members that we postpone this proclamation, until we create a formal process so that we are equitable and consistent in how we review proclamations submitted by the community,” district spokesman Jason Geary said on Monday via email.

“The Polk County School Board does not vote on proclamations," Geary said. "In fact, there is not a clear process in place to approve proclamations that go before the board.”

The Pride Month proclamation was submitted by the Polk Pride organization for the June board meeting, he said.

In Florida during its 2023 legislative session, the American Civil Liberties Union listed 10 bills aimed at LGBTQ people. Four were passed by the legislature and were signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis

'We aren't going anywhere' Polk Pride organizers say events are more important than ever

Approaches vary across county Polk County Commission nixes LGBTQ Pride proclamation

Scott Lake Crews work to fix Lakeland sinkhole, property owner given 30 days to complete repairs

Among them:

• An expansion of the Parental Rights in Education law, dubbed "Don't say gay" by critics, which now prohibits discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools through eighth grade. It takes effect July 1.

• A law that ban certain medical procedures or gender-affirming care for transgender youth. This law has been blocked by a federal judge.

• A law that bans children from certain adult performances, largely seen as an attack on drag shows.

• And laws that restrict preferred-pronoun use in schools and restrict children to the bathrooms corresponding to their gender assigned at birth.

Last week, the Polk County Commission pulled a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month off its agenda.

Polk Pride submitted requests for proclamations to Polk County, the Polk School Board and 15 cities. As of last week, the County Commission and the cities of Auburndale, Eagle Lake, Fort Meade, Frostproof, Lake Hamilton and Lake Wales had rejected the requests.

Those approving proclamations include Bartow, Davenport, Dundee, Haines City, Lake Alfred, Lakeland, Mulberry and Winter Haven.

Advocates for LGBTQ+ individuals say they think the school districts have several reasons for postponing the proclamation at least a month and potentially in the fall.

“I'm glad that it's at least going to be done in October, that’s my understanding," said Paul Ritz, president of the Rainbow Ridge Polk County LGBTA Democratic Caucus. "I somewhat understand the rationale for doing it that way.”

He pointed to repercussions other school districts have suffered from the Department of Education after publicly supporting the LGBTQ-plus community. Last week, the Department of Education sent a letter to the Broward School Board chastising a video posted online by one of its school board members in support of the LGBTQ community, the Florida Voice website reported.

The action in Polk County comes as money for school districts is pending in the state budget, which DeSantis has not yet signed for the upcoming fiscal year.

“There may be something to the superintendent watching his back and avoiding any consequences in terms of the school budget,” Ritz said. “Because it’s pretty obvious the governor is purposely delaying signing the budget until the end of the month to kind of hang the sword of Damocles over the heads of the school boards.

“Looking overall at all these legislative changes, when you look at the laws themselves, some of them are pretty heinous but some of them appear on their face to be innocuous,” he said. “The real impact is the chilling effect that it has on people’s behavior.”

Last year on the June 12 agenda, the board kept a similar proclamation declaring June to be Pride Month.

Members of Citizens Defending Freedom, a conservative group based in Polk County, did not respond to a request on Monday for comment about the School District's LGBTQ proclamation. CDF has issued a news release recently calling on Christians to voice their opinions about Pride Month.

“The group is encouraging Christians to organize at gay pride rallies and other ‘pride month’ events to pray for our country, along with those who participate in gay pride events,” the release said. “The goal is to bombard gay pride groups with prayer, just like those groups bombard Christians with their homosexual agenda daily.”

Anita Carson, Polk County's Equality Florida representative, said she is sure that CDF will attend the meeting Tuesday and so will members of the LGBTQ community.

"Right now, our first action is to show up to the board meeting dressed in rainbows, asking them if they cannot read it this month to at least read it in July," Carson said. "So then our families and students don't feel that they haven't been supported. We already have enough of that in the state, and we don't need more."

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk school superintendent recommends board delay LGBTQ proclamation