This op-ed was originally published in Miami Herald.

In classrooms and educational spaces across our country, a coordinated attack on our students’ right to learn is underway. Perhaps nowhere are those attacks more pronounced than in Florida, where state officials have led a campaign to restrict free speech in classrooms under the guise of “preventing indoctrination.”

On June 13, a federal appeals court in Miami heard arguments in a case involving a 2022 Florida law, and now the court is deciding whether politicians can dictate what educators do or do not teach about race and gender in higher education institutions.

The question comes from a group of educators challenging the Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act (Stop Woke Act) a censorship law that restricts educators from teaching viewpoints around race and gender that are disfavored by Florida lawmakers, even where those viewpoints are considered foundational information in their academic disciplines.

Championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, this overreaching law specifically targets and places vague restrictions on educators’ ability to teach concepts such as racism, sexism, privilege and unconscious bias. It also imposes harsh penalties, including ineligibility for all performance funding from the state for the colleges and universities and termination for educators who have been found to violate the law.

Such penalties would further imperil Florida’s education system by pushing universities to the brink of bankruptcy and driving educators out of the state.

Because the law is so vague, it is extremely difficult for educators to determine what they can or can’t teach, or what views might be interpreted to violate the law, leaving teachers in a constant state of uncertainty and causing a larger chilling effect in the classroom.

It has even brought into question whether teaching strategies such as the Socratic method, which fosters critical thinking and challenges preconceptions, could prompt classroom discussions that violate this censorship law. And that’s exactly what the politicians who passed the Stop W.O.K.E. Act were hoping for.

Since the law was passed in 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida, along with the national ACLU, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Ballard Spahr law firm have been representing a group of courageous educators in their fight to protect free speech in education.

At its core, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and the free exchange of ideas, including in educational settings where diverse viewpoints should be encouraged and explored.

The Stop Woke Act, however, undermines this fundamental principle. By dictating what educators can and cannot teach about race and gender, the act effectively censors discussions that are essential for fostering critical thinking and understanding complex social issues.

The law poses such serious harm to educators and students that a federal appeals court upheld the district court’s preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks Florida from enforcing the Stop Woke Act, which the order itself described as “positively dystopian.”

As the appeal proceeds, the arguments heard earlier this month are a chance for the court to either stand with the free exchange of ideas and robust debate that characterize higher education or enable the government to silence discussion of any viewpoint it disfavors. Florida is just one of over a dozen states across the country that have passed laws censoring discussions around race and gender in the classroom. Upholding the district court’s ruling will ensure that our system of higher education is guided by the principle of free speech, not government censorship.

Our future depends on independent educational institutions that are free from government intrusion. Our classrooms are meant to be rooms of curiosity, creativity and learning. When we stifle this kind of critical thinking, we risk losing our education system as we know it.

1968, the year before the Stonewall Uprising, our nation was turned inside out with two shattering assassinations, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. The country was in shock as it headed into a national election. 

King and Kennedy represented hope and the promise of an America poised to realize its potential. The assassinations robbed marginalized communities of their quest for the American Dream. 

Then in the early hours of June 28, 1969, the police raided a small gay bar in the West Village of New York City. The patrons fought back, demanding to be treated as Americans, demanding to live lives as promised by Reverend King and the Civil Rights Movement and by Senator Kennedy in the halls of Congress. 

For multiple nights, the queer community took to the streets, and the world would never be the same again. The flame of hope flickered back to life, and in 1970, Pride was born, paying tribute to the uprising and the promise of equality. New organizations sprung up, and over the next few decades, we witnessed marriage equality, the right to adoption, protections in the workplace, housing, healthcare, and more. 

Now, in the 21st century, LGBTQ+ rights are under attack across the country, with Florida at the forefront.

In our state, we have seen the implementation of extremist laws and policies that seek to censor and shun LGBTQ+ Floridians. Over the past several years, Florida has sought to: 

• Ban gender-affirming healthcare for trans minors
• Restrict gender-affirming healthcare for trans adults
• Ban trans adults and minors from participating in sports
• Criminalize trans individuals for using restrooms aligned with their gender identity
• Censor books and classroom instruction that mention LGBTQ+ identities
• Target books with LGBTQ+ characters as “obscene material” 
• Force teachers not to use trans children's preferred pronouns and chosen names
• Bar transgender residents from changing their gender on their driver’s licenses

While this list might not encompass all of the harmful laws and policies that have impacted LGBTQ+ Floridians, it highlights the stakes we face during this election year. Do we want to be in a state where the promise of equality and freedom is denied to us?

As we celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and head into the presidential elections, our community has the opportunity to show up united yet again. The LGBTQ+ community, which lives in every community, invites everyone to come together under the rainbow flag and bring forth a rebirth of democracy and freedom—one that includes every American who has ever dreamed of a better world. 

Pride Month honors a protest that started a movement. This struggle for liberation will continue until all LGBTQ+ people are free and equal. At Stonewall, we demanded that we be treated with dignity and equality. It remains our solemn responsibility to keep this dream alive and hold a little bit of Stonewall in our hearts, especially in Florida.