Records show Florida LGBTQ yearbook outcry overblown; only two people sought refunds

A two-page LGBTQ section in a Florida yearbook ignited fiery controversy last spring, drawing the ire of a local Moms for Liberty chapter, a heated school board meeting and headlines nationwide.

But the Student Press Law Center says public records show that controversy was overblown.

The embroiled Seminole County Public Schools offered parents refunds or reprinted Lyman High School yearbooks with the section removed. But, despite the outcry, only two parents requested refunds, according to documents the student press freedom non-profit obtained through a records request. No one asked for a reprint.

“At the end of the day, it was really just a storm in a teacup,” said Jonathan Gaston-Falk, an SPLC staff attorney. “We had only two — of all the people clamoring at the meeting.”

The school district confirmed the SPLC's findings but did not comment otherwise.

The meeting

The school district's decision to address the controversy only generated more of it, with some bashing the refund and reprint decision and others bashing the content.

Days after Seminole County Public Schools announced the refund and reprint options, its board held a meeting, in early June.

It stretched hours, dominated by debate over those pages. Gaston-Falk said he believed “quite a few” people came from outside the county to oppose the pages.

But, while those speaking in support of the pages outnumbered those in opposition, locals certainly took issue, too.

Sharman Craft, identified by Fox 35 Orlando as a Lyman High School student’s parent, called on the board to take action against the principal for allowing the content, saying it violated county and state policies.

“It contains mature content that shouldn’t be covered in a high school yearbook,” Craft said during the meeting, where she was interrupted multiple times by disagreeing audience members. “A school yearbook just isn’t the place for political propaganda, ideological agendas or any other type of indoctrination."

Jessica Tillmann, chapter chair of the Seminole County Moms for Liberty, told the Orlando Sentinel that she found the refund and reprint decision appropriate but called for the principal and yearbook faculty advisor to be removed.

Her chapter did not respond to a media request.

The advisor resigned, attributing a "big part" of her departure to the controversy, according to Spectrum 13 News. The school's principal remains the same.

That controversy was broadcast far outside of Longwood, population 15,110.

Conservative outlets like Fox News, the New York Post and Washington Times ran stories about it. Meanwhile, a headline from the The Daily Beast reads, "Moms for Liberty Loses Its (expletive) Over School Yearbook’s LGBTQ Page."

The two-page spread included a list of definitions for LGBTQ terms, such as “gay,” “genderfluid,” “transgender” and “asexual.” Two quotes and a story about accepting the LGBTQ community also made the spread, as well as a paragraph about pronoun use and an image of the school mascot holding a Pride flag.

"The students on pages 46 and 47 also have accomplishments that deserve to be noted,” said Sara Ward, then the editor-in-chief of the yearbook, called The Greyhound, at the meeting. "These students bravely shared their stories about being LGBTQ youth in a world that clearly doesn't support them for who they are."

The state of things

What’s taught and what materials are available in public schools has become a hot-button issue, gaining traction as early-pandemic campaigns against COVID-19 policies ratcheted up to focus on how schools discuss gender, sexuality and race.

Over the last two years, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers have put that controversy in statute.

They’ve passed laws restricting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, targeted pronoun use in schools and created policies precipitating school library book removals and restrictions, many of the affected titles mentioning the LGBTQ community.

“We are going to remain a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy, and kids should have an upbringing that reflects that,” DeSantis said at a recent bill-signing ceremony.

Despite all this, it didn’t come as a surprise to Brandon Wolf, press secretary for Equality Florida, that only two parents requested refunds and none requested reprinted yearbooks.

“It’s indicative of the truth behind the anti-LGBTQ hysteria being peddled by Gov. DeSantis and his allies,” Wolf said. “The vast majority of people in Florida support their LGBTQ neighbors, and a vast majority of people in this state are not hyperventilating over whether or not students learn that some families don’t look like theirs."

Not the 1st Lyman yearbook controversy 'This is censorship': Florida high school's yearbook on hold over photos protesting so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law

Are public libraries next?: 'This is censorship': Florida high school's yearbook on hold over photos protesting so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law

Not the first yearbook controversy at Lyman

This is not the first time Lyman High School has been caught in the culture wars.

The yearbook’s release was put on hold in 2022 until images featuring a student protest of the Parental Rights in Education Act, called “Don’t Say Gay” by critics, were covered up.

After students and others spoke against the move, the school board scrubbed it, opting to put disclaimer stickers in the yearbook.

The Student Press Law Center ended up giving The Greyhound’s team its 2022 High School Student Press Freedom Award for successfully challenging the “effort to censor their work."

The SPLC’s Gaston-Falk said the situations show that “any Floridian would do very well to trust the student voices.”

“They’re the ones going through this colossal wrestling match between different political sides, and the students are sort of stuck in between,” he said. “Whether or not they espouse one side or the other, it’s so important for those students to be able to articulate their own voice, to find their own voice, let them make some mistakes and figure out what's important to them.

“They are our future leaders,” he said.

Gaston-Falk says the controversies also show the importance of protecting student press freedom — and why Florida would benefit from legislation increasing that protection.

The SPLC promotes a law that does just that, called “New Voices.” Passed in 17 states, but not Florida, it’s geared at counteracting the 1988 Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier Supreme Court decision limiting student First Amendment rights.

Looking back

Ward, last year’s editor-in-chief of The Greyhound, is now a freshman journalism and communications student at Stetson University.

Looking back, the situation is still wild to Ward.

“What we were trying to accomplish with that spread was being inclusive and educating the general public, and it turned into this full-fledged war of political sides,” Ward told the USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida.

But, she said it provided a good lesson looking forward.

"It proved to me that I kind of have to really like what I'm doing and really have a passion for it, because it is never easy," she said. "It's never a walk in the park. Just because you have the First Amendment doesn't mean it's invoked all the time."

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule is based in Tallahassee, Fla. He can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com. Twitter: @DouglasSoule.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Examining an LGBTQ yearbook controversy in Ron DeSantis' Florida