Billboards Across Florida Are Urging People to ‘Say Gay’ in Defiance of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill

The goal is to let Floridians know, especially LGBTQ youth, that it’s “OK to talk about who you are and where you come from.”

Florida is flat. The Sunshine State has no hills. But if it did, they’d be alive with the sound of the word “gay!” being shouted from billboards all across the state.

Signs in protest of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Parental Rights in Education bill (HB 1557), also known by its opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, are cropping up in major cities like Orlando, Tallahassee, and Jacksonville. The next sign will likely pop up in Miami.

The campaign is funded by the Southern Progress Pac, a group that aims “to turn the attacks from Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans upside down on their heads.”

Set to run over the next four weeks, the campaign looks to fight the bill that takes effect July 1 and will ban classroom discussion of issues relating to sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. It also bans these topics for older students, if the issues discussed are considered not age-appropriate or developmentally inappropriate.

A Hateful Attack

Opponents of the bill, including Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, the Legislature’s first openly LGBTQ Latin member, call it a hateful attack on the state’s young LGBTQ population, which already faces greater risk of self-harm and suicide.

“[We] exist to speak truth to power and expose the extremist agenda of Republican politicians that seek power for themselves while trampling on the rights of the people they claim to represent,” a statement on Southern Progress Pac’s site reads.​

On its website, the group seeks donations to help in its cause to let people know, especially LGBTQ youth, that it’s “OK to talk about who you are and where you come from”.