Orange County School Board rejects bid to ditch LGBTQ+ History Month proclamation

The Orange County School Board on Tuesday once again rejected an effort by one of their board members to get rid of an annual proclamation declaring LGBTQ+ Awareness and History Month, after more than a dozen parents, students and school staff urged the board to keep it.

Alicia Farrant, a Moms for Liberty activist elected to the school board in 2022, said she felt the proclamation was “redundant” and duplicative, since 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.

The LGBTQ+ Awareness and History Month proclamation, recognized annually in the Orange County school district since 2019, was one of several dozen cultural observances the board was tasked with approving for the school year Tuesday, as a procedural matter.

“I have no problems with any of the others,” explained Farrant, who’s being challenged for re-election next year. “I just think we’re being redundant by celebrating three times.”

Other issues are given special recognition more than once throughout the school year — for instance, there are four different observances dedicated to cancer awareness — but apparently only giving attention to LGBTQ+ issues feels redundant to Farrant.

A mother of five, Farrant was elected to the school board with 52 percent of the vote in 2022 after calling to rid schools of “sexually explicit” books and change the school district’s bathroom policy for transgender students.

She’s reportedly a member of Moms for Liberty, a “parental rights” group that advocates for politically conservative educational policies, including the removal of books from schools that show acceptance or tolerance of LGBTQ+ equality.

Recycling past talking points, Farrant said Tuesday that she believes the proclamation fosters a culture of singling out one community — in this case, a community facing numerous political attacks on the state and federal level — in a way that de-prioritizes others.

“The LGBTQ+ history and awareness, the proclamation itself, talks a lot about bullying,” she explained. “And when we single one community out, it can make other students feel that if they’re bullied, it doesn’t matter unless they’re part of the LGBTQ community.”

She added, “In order to build unity and stand for all of our children and our students, our staff, while we’re continually singling out one community and giving honor and proclamations to one community more than another, it can make it look like that is our sole focus.”

None of the other six school board members bought it. 

Board member Maria Salamanca, the board’s youngest and first LGBTQ+ member, generously acknowledged that they can agree to disagree, while highlighting the importance of continuing to recognize the proclamation. “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,” said Salamanca.

“It’s still OK for folks to disagree and challenge those views and have their voices represented,” she continued. “It’s not easy to hear, it’s not easy to read, but I absolutely respect your right to do so.”

Farrant tried this again back in 2023. It didn’t work then either.

And this time, community advocates in support of students were prepared for Farrant’s repeat effort to ditch the proclamation. The local chapter of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) issued a warning of Farrant’s plan on social media ahead of the meeting. During public comment, several parents of OCPS students and school staff emphasized the importance of recognizing LGBTQ+ history month, including a survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting.

“I was at work that night, and while I hid under a table with two other people, lamenting the fact that I was going to die before I could graduate, I promised that if I survived, I would dedicate myself to creating safe spaces for LGBTQ plus students in any capacity that I could,” said Fawn Goldstein, a former employee of the gay nightclub who now works as a middle school counselor in the district.

“In a time where the rights of LGBTQ+ students are being ripped away from them, and their very existence is being billed as inappropriate at worst, and insignificant at best, please allow these kids to feel celebrated at school,” Goldstein pleaded. “Even if it’s just for one month.”

While lawmakers in the Florida legislature have been chipping away at transgender rights and inclusive policies for LGBTQ+ people for years, LGBTQ+ students today face an even more hostile political environment under the Trump administration.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has rescinded Biden-era orders calling for nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people in schools, and has taken aim at what his administration describes as “radical indoctrination” in schools, including but not limited to school staff supporting the “social transition” of transgender students.

In a Jan. executive order, the White House defines “social transition” as “the process of adopting a ‘gender identity’ or ‘gender marker’ that differs from a person’s sex,” which includes things such as “psychological or psychiatric counseling or treatment by a school counselor,” using a child’s preferred pronouns, or calling them by a name that aligns with their gender identity.

Orange County, home to one of the nation’s largest school districts, is one of the few remaining blue bubbles in Florida, even as the state has broadly become increasingly red in recent years. “You have a community here that stands behind all of our students, that recognizes the fight for equality and civil rights is still ongoing,” said Stefana Ferrell, a mother of two and co-founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project, during public comment Tuesday.

“There has been a lot gained, but a lot to lose, and a lot continuously at stake.”

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This article appears in Aug 13-18, 2025.