Following the enactment of what critics call the �Don�t Say Gay� law, some
LGBTQ teachers have quit the profession altogether.

They weren't in it for the profession then.

Last month, a group of parents in Orlando, Florida, demanded
�consequences� against sixth grade science teacher Robert Thollander. His
crime? Thollander acknowledged his marriage at school.

�He married a man. This alone is not an issue. Sharing the details � with
all his 6th grade students is the issue,� the parents wrote in a letter
sent to their children�s school board, which was shared with NBC News. �It
was not appropriate. Many of these students felt very uncomfortable with
the conversations and shared this with their families.�

Had Thollander just �said he will be out for a few days because he was
getting married, no problem,� the letter continued, �but to discuss the
details and create an uncomfortable situation for the students with no
benefit to teaching his subject matter is inappropriate.�

Thollander denied having discussed his marriage since he and his husband
tied the knot in March of last year, aside from acknowledging it when he
was asked. No action was taken against him by school leaders, who defended
him several days later with a letter of their own, he said.

Nevertheless, the incident prompted Thollander to make this school year
his last after 11 years of working in Florida as a teacher.

�A lot of trust is given to teachers, and it made it seem like I wasn�t
trusted because there�s something wrong with me for being gay,� he said.
�It makes it seem like being gay is something vile or disturbing or
disgusting when it�s described as making children uncomfortable knowing
that I�m married to a man. It hurt.�

While the Orlando parents did not succeed in having Thollander disciplined
or ousted, he and other LGBTQ teachers in the state worry that newly
signed state law � titled Parental Rights in Education but dubbed by
critics as the �Don�t Say Gay� law � will galvanize parents to take
similar action against them. In fact, Thollander said he believes the
parents who complained about him were emboldened by the bill even before
it was signed into law.

With the new law in place, teachers fear that in talking about their
families or LGBTQ issues more broadly, pointed letters will be the least
of their worries.

You bet. Keep your unwanted degenerate behavior to yourselves.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/-cannot-teach-
florida-lgbtq-educators-fear-fallout-new-school-law-rcna22106