In Florida 17 Year-Old Gay Activists Experience Violent Harassment & Fear for their Lives

Savas Abadsidis June 8, 2022

17 year-old Jack Petocz, who organized the state wide protests against Florida’s so called “Don’t Say Gay” bill was violently harassed Tuesday night.

Petocz wrote on Twitter:

While running some errands a few minutes ago, a car pulled up beside me. He began to violently scream the F-slur at me, while getting very close to my vehicle. This is the reality of queer activists in FL. I fear for my life here.

While running some errands a few minutes ago, a car pulled up beside me. He began to violently scream the F-slur at me, while getting very close to my vehicle. This is the reality of queer activists in FL. I fear for my life here.
— Jack Petocz (@Jack_Petocz) June 7, 2022

William Larkins added:

Being visibly queer in America is scary. I’m only 17 and I have experienced similar violent harassment more times then i can count. It is time that things change.

Being visibly queer in America is scary. I’m only 17 and I have experienced similar violent harassment more times then i can count. It is time that things change.🧵
TW//Homophobia, violence https://t.co/XFplaCscJG
— Will Larkins (@ProudTwinkie) June 8, 2022

Just last month they were celebrated at the Webby Awards and now this. Watermark Online: Four Florida students – Will Larkins, Jack Petocz, Abbie Garretson and Javier Gomez — who helped to organize the statewide “Say Gay” walkouts this past March were honored with the Social Movement of The Year at the 26th Annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City May 16. The student activists were presented with the award from Queer Eye’s Tan France and comedian Tig Notaro.

“The passing of Florida’s HB 557 bill which bans educators from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through 3rd grade classrooms is one example of bigotry codified into law – you may know it as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law and Jack Petocz, Will Larkin, Abbie Garretson and Javier Gomez are examples of how to fight back immediately using the power of words and the Internet,” Notaro said from the stage.

“Direct action like protests, walkouts and letterizing campaigns organized around the Say Gay hashtag, Jack, Will, Abbie, Javier and other organizers they inspire drew national attention to this policies which endangered the lives of LGBTQ+ people in this country,” France added.

While accepting the award, each of the students delivered five-word speeches.

“We will not be silenced,” said Larkins.

“We will keep saying gay,” said Garretson.

“We will vote DeSantis out,” said Petocz.

“This, here, is queer revolution,” said Gomez.

The Webbys were created in 1996 and are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. The awards given for excellence on the internet and are known as the “internet’s highest honor.”

Larkin has listed instances of violence experienced:

Hollywood CA, March 2021 I was 16 y/o, sitting at a metro stop with my friend Clarissa. A adult man comes up to us and says “If I had a gun I would kill you, f****t” Clarissa goes to defend me and he says “Be careful what you say lady or i’ll rape you”
Winter Park FL, August 2020 I was 15 y/o riding on a bike to a friends house. While on Lakemont ave, a truck pulls up next to me. The guys must have been 17/18. They rolled down the windows and shouted different, hateful things but i clearly heard “you don’t belong here, f-slur”
Baldwin Park FL, a handful of times during my 2018/19 school year: I was 13 y/o and i used to walk home alone from my middle school. A few of my classmates in a car with older teens would follow me home and should “KILL YOURSELF *slurs*” at me.
Oviedo FL, October 2021 I was 16 y/o and attended a halloween party that a few friends and I had been invited to. Within 10 minutes of walking in, I was surrounded by a group of boys at my school. They were all shouting slurs and being verbally violent. “Go f**k kids f-slur”
You like f**king animals don’t you” Not knowing what to do i stood silently and just looked at them. My friend Sawyer shouted back, standing up for us. One of the guys came out of the crowd to tell us that if we didn’t leave right now, they would “beat the s**t out of us”
Aliso Viejo CA, sometime in 2017 I was 12 years old and a boy in my class decided to tell everyone “Will is a r*pist because gays are r*pists” I reported it only to find out that he didn’t actually know what that meant and was repeating something his parents told him.

Larkins says the whole ordeal was traumatizing: “Hate is learned, hate is taught. If we do not educate children from an early age about the existence of queer people (and all other marginalized groups), kids like me and Jack Petocz will be victims of this hatred.Laws like the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill will leave these vital discussions up to parents, most of which aren’t qualified to properly educate their children on the subject. Many parents don’t give facts, just hateful messaging.have been told that by being queer i am inherently perverse my entire life. It is disgusting, it is traumatizing, and it should NOT be forced on children.You can’t even blame the kids who bullied me for being different, they were indoctrinated by hateful parents and politicians who spread dangerous ‘groomer’ rhetoric which is a direct cause of the queer mental health crisis.”

Governor Ron DeSantis and anyone who votes for him, members of the legislature who voted in support of hb1557, anyone who votes for them, and anyone who chooses NOT to vote against them in the upcoming election: you are why queer teens are 4 times more likely to die by suicide.

And it’s not limited to Florida, as one woman named Maria remarked, “This happened to my 12 yo daughter in NJ last week:

My 12 yo and 2 friends were physically assaulted yesterday after school for wearing pride clothes. She told me she was calm because I prepared her for possible scenarios. I did but I honestly didn’t think she was going to need my advice so soon 🙁 pic.twitter.com/RzPGlHq1HI
— Maria (@Fonziruv) June 5, 2022

In an Op-Ed in the New York Times in March Larkins wrote:

On Tuesday, the Florida Senate approved the Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the Don’t Say Gay bill. The bill, which Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he will sign, seeks to ban public schools in the state from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through the third grade, or through the 12th grade in a manner deemed “age-inappropriate” by parents. Had the proposed law been in effect last year, my teacher could have put herself in jeopardy by being there for me.
From an early age I knew I was different. I wasn’t interested in the things other boys my age did, and I didn’t really feel comfortable in the clothes my parents bought me. The struggle for acceptance was not just internal, it also felt as if my classmates didn’t know what to make of me. By fourth grade I was convinced that I was broken. I didn’t know how to defend myself when other kids made hateful comments or bullied me — I didn’t know why I was the way that I was. Without the vocabulary to articulate why I felt and acted like this, I assumed what they said about me was true. For most of the kids in my grade, I was the only kid like me they knew.

My life changed the summer before seventh grade. A girl at an arts summer camp turned to me on the first day and asked, “Are you L.G.B.T.Q.?” She explained what each letter meant and showed me pictures of RuPaul on her phone. It felt as if a weight had been taken off my shoulders. The realization that I wasn’t the only one saved my life. I remember stepping away and calling my best friend at the time: “Max, I think I am gay.”
When I came home from camp, I became fascinated with learning more about queer culture. I read about Georgia Black, a Black trans woman who lived close to where I do now in the early 1900s, and I learned that in pre-Colonial times, more than 150 Indigenous tribes acknowledged third genders in their community and three to five gender roles: female, male, Two Spirit female, Two Spirit male and transgender. I realized how common the experience of falling outside of the gender binary was. As I learned about the history and culture of my community, I grew to understand and love myself. Education made me hate myself less.

I am lucky to have supportive parents, but I am in the minority among my peers. Research has shown that L.G.B.T.Q. teenagers have a higher risk of experiencing some form of homelessness, with family conflict being the primary cause. Many of my close friends have been thrown out of their homes after coming out to their parents or being outed by others. One of my best friends even stayed with my family for three weeks after he was kicked out of his home because his parents refused to accept that he was trans. Other friends have told me disturbing stories of being physically abused or worse because they strayed from traditional gender norms.
On Feb. 28, I spoke out against the bill on the Florida Senate floor, and on Monday my friend Maddi Zornek and I led a walkout of more than 500 students at our high school. Republican lawmakers have been echoing the idea that parents know what is best for their kids, not the schools. In some cases that may be true. But parents aren’t trained professionals; unlike schools, they aren’t made to follow a set of standards. For many of my friends in dangerous situations because of their sexuality or gender identity, school has been a space where they could be themselves.

I spoke today at the final #DontSayGay bill Florida Senate committee. Unfortunately, they passed it 12-8 but the fight is NOT over. pic.twitter.com/IN6ub6UeMK
— Will Larkins (@ProudTwinkie) February 28, 2022

Now, under threat of lawsuits, districts, schools and teachers may be hesitant to talk at all with students about gender identity and sexuality, even if the conversation is “age-appropriate.” The bill also allows the state commissioner of education to establish a “special magistrate” so that prosecuting those in violation of the law would happen much faster than in a normal court.
When I look back to elementary school, I wonder how different my childhood would have been had my classmates and I known that I wasn’t some tragic anomaly, a strange fluke that needed to be fixed. People in support of the bill always ask, “Why do these subjects need to be taught in schools?” To them I would say that if we understand ourselves, and those around us understand us, so many lives will be saved.

The sentiment of most was simple, horror at what Petocz experienced and thanks for his voice for change.

Growing up, I watched in terror as mass shooting after mass shooting occurred. Today, I asked Ron DeSantis directly, why he doesn’t care about my life and refuses to act on gun violence. Instead of answering me, he sent his security guards to kick me out. We deserve better. pic.twitter.com/u6qQWR6RI1
— Jack Petocz (@Jack_Petocz) June 3, 2022

Following the series of mass shootings that have occurred in recently, Petocz said on June 2: Growing up, I watched in terror as mass shooting after mass shooting occurred.

Petocz said: “Today, I asked Ron DeSantis directly, why he doesn’t care about my life and refuses to act on gun violence. Instead of answering me, he sent his security guards to kick me out. We deserve better.”

Petocz has dedicated himself to the getting DeSantis voted out in November in a series of “Rallies to Remove Ron” saying, “March with me and spread the word.”