I’ve seen what it looks like when a child scrolls through a phone looking for love and finds hate instead.
When a student walks into a classroom smiling just enough to keep the questions down, carrying the weight of secrets too heavy for their age. When a child becomes fluent in trauma before they can fully read, write or solve a math problem on grade level. When a student zones out in the middle of class — not because they don’t care, but because their nervous system has been in fight-or-flight mode since sunrise.
Let me be clear: our children deserve better.
And Florida — this state I’ve poured my heart into, taught in, prayed over and fought for is betraying our children in ways that break me wide open.
Recently, we learned that since 2014, Florida has failed to collect nearly $2.2 billion in federal Medicaid reimbursements meant for our schools. That’s about $200 million every single year that could have funded school counselors, mental health screenings, speech and language services, physical therapy, trauma-informed intervention and more.
Let me say it louder: $2.2 billion, gone.
While children sat in overcrowded classrooms trying to make sense of emotions they were never taught to name, the funding that could’ve brought care and stability sat untouched.
While LGBTQ+ youth struggled with bullying, rejection and internal battles some adults can’t comprehend, the very systems that were supposed to support them were underfunded — by choice.
This wasn’t a clerical error. This was calculated neglect. Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration didn’t just miss a memo. They willfully and repeatedly ignored federal guidelines fully aware of the consequences. And this isn’t an isolated oversight — it’s part of a documented, deliberate pattern of harm.
Neglect like this isn’t just happening behind closed doors — it’s written into law. From health care to classrooms, some elected officials are choosing policy over protection, politics over people, and power over the lives of LGBTQ+ children.
Some Florida lawmakers passed law after law designed to isolate, erase and endanger LGBTQ+ youth and the educators who love them. They removed books that reflect real lives, real families and real love. They banned gender-affirming care for youth, even when it’s supported by families and doctors. They removed “Safe Space” stickers and LGBTQ+ inclusive materials from classrooms. And now, the Trump administration removed the LGBTQ+ youth option from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — cutting off one of the only national lifelines kids could access when everything else failed.
Every time a safe space is stripped away offline, a child is pushed deeper online. I don’t just say this as an education activist. I say it as a digital strategist. Social media is where many LGBTQ+ kids go to find solace and seek connection.
For many LGBTQ+ youth, social media becomes a diary, a mirror, a lifeline. But that same space? It’s where connection can turn dangerous. Where they’re baited, bullied and shamed. Where predators hide behind avatars. A place where cruelty hides behind usernames and avatars, and where being visible can make them a target.
And now, Florida has passed a law banning children under 14 from using social media. On paper, it sounds like a win. But in reality, it’s performative. It’s unenforceable. Kids know how to bypass restrictions. Parents often don’t know what apps are even on their child’s phone. Tech companies aren’t verifying users meaningfully. While the law creates the illusion of action, the online risks children face remains unchanged.
We can’t say “protect the children” while voting and signing laws that strip their safety. We can’t preach family values while abandoning queer kids in the name of politics or religion. We can’t keep calling them our future while destroying the very hope they’re supposed to inherit.
And the numbers don’t lie — no matter how hard folks try to silence them. Among children between the ages of 15 and 19, suicide is the second leading cause of death, and the leading cause of death for 14- to 15-year-olds.
According to The Trevor Project:
- 37% of LGBTQ+ youth in Florida seriously considered suicide in the past year.
- For trans and nonbinary youth, that number jumps to 45%.
- Eleven percent of LGBTQ+ youth attempted suicide.
- More than half—56%—couldn’t access the mental health care they needed.
- And 69% of them considered leaving the state entirely just to feel safe.
As someone who’s walked hallways full of kids carrying trauma, we don’t need performative concern. We need policies that change the direction of the data. We need parents who listen with curiosity, not control. We need educators who are supported, not silenced. We need our leaders to lead with love, not judgment. We need people who aren’t afraid to ask our children, “Are you okay?” and then actually sit in the silence when the answer is heavy and hard.
To every human reading this: You are not a burden. You are not too much. You are not broken. You are not wrong for needing help.
You deserve love that doesn’t require translation. Support that doesn’t come with shame. Protection that isn’t performative. Even when systems fail you. Even when politicians lie to your face, try to shame your truth, or vote against your survival.
Know this: There will still be people standing up for you. Still fighting. Still choosing you on purpose.
Say it with me:
“I am worthy of protection, both online and offline. I am not too much. I am not too loud. I am not a mistake. I deserve love, safety, and the freedom to exist fully. My identity is not a liability — it’s a light.”
You matter. You are seen. And I love you.
Bianca Goolsby, MBA is a digital strategist and activist who partners with mission-driven organizations and empowers families to curate safe social spaces.
