Screenshot of Orange County School Board meeting on Aug. 12 from livestream.
ORLANDO | The Orange County School Board rejected a bid Aug. 12 to remove the annual proclamation declaring LGBTQ+ Awareness and History Month on the district’s list of officially recognized celebrations.
More than a dozen parents, students and school staff urged the board to keep it, however one board member who is critical of the celebration has pushed to remove it since 2023.
Board member Alicia Farrant called the proclamation a “push to normalize sexual promiscuity and sexual ideations at a young age.”
Farrant is a Moms for Liberty activist and was elected to the school board in 2022 with 52% of the vote. She felt that the proclamation was “redundant” and duplicative because the school system also recognizes June as Pride Month and June 12 as Pulse Remembrance Day to commemorate the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub.
No one on the eight-member board supported her. Farrant will be challenged for re-election next year.
“EVERY student deserves a quality education in a safe school environment, free from discrimination, where they can thrive and learn,” Orange County Democrats wrote on Facebook in response:
Board member Maria Salamanca, the body’s first LGBTQ+ member, said the school’s annual proclamation is an important message to current students. She highlighted that they can agree to disagree.
“The point of a proclamation is to acknowledge that fights and battles have been won towards a form of equality, and it is a reminder that we continue to believe that,” Salamanca said during the meeting.
View the full meeting here:
