{"id":33110,"date":"2023-06-26T16:03:08","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T20:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=33110"},"modified":"2023-06-26T16:03:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-26T20:03:18","slug":"former-polk-county-educator-leaves-school-system-for-lgbtq-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2023\/06\/26\/former-polk-county-educator-leaves-school-system-for-lgbtq-activism\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Polk County educator leaves school system for LGBTQ+ activism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some members of the LGBTQ+ community say recognizing Pride Month is more important this year, in light of measures passed by the Florida Legislature. Among them is the Parental Rights in Education Act, often called \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d by critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new restrictions are driving teachers out of education, a Polk County educator said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Daffne Cruz and her wife, Ayla, are celebrating 10 years of marriage this year. It\u2019s something the couple wasn\u2019t sure would be possible when they started dating, which was before gay marriage was legal in Florida. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think Pride month this year, more than ever, we just need to be able to celebrate our authenticity, celebrate who we are, celebrate who we love,\u201d Daffne said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a way for us to express ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the past decade, the couple has worked for Polk County Public Schools. But this is the first summer vacation when Daffne won\u2019t return to school in the fall. She left her job as a high school assistant principal at the end of the school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daffne said she felt she could no longer be vocal about her identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just want everyone to know authenticity over acceptance always,” she said. “Always be yourself, always stay true to yourself and I want to be able to advocate that on a grander scale without any repercussions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education Bill into law, which prohibits classroom instruction on gender and sexual orientation, unless it\u2019s required by state academic standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulations initially applied to K-3 classrooms. But in March 2023, the state Board of Education voted to expand the rules to K-12 classrooms. Supporters of the law said it\u2019s meant to keep discussions about sex and sexuality out of the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teachers could face disciplinary action, such as suspension or termination, if they don\u2019t follow the regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daffne said she felt a shift in the past year and reached a breaking point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had parents say \u2018Oh I don\u2019t want to speak to the gay administrator\u2019 or as parents that call me the F-word, which I\u2019m not going to say,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve had parents on the flip side say \u2018Hey, can you have this conversation with me and my child because I think my child might be under that community umbrella, might be LGBTQ but I don\u2019t know how to navigate that conversation’.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Latino and member of the LGBTQ+ community, Daffne said she became an educator to be the representation she didn\u2019t have growing up. She never thought she\u2019d love the field she loves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daffne is still educating people, but now in front of her phone, instead of a whiteboard. She\u2019s building a platform on social media to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. Daffne\u2019s goal is to make people feel confident and comfortable with who they are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think my job on this Earth is to help push out extra love because we\u2019re lacking that right now,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of what I do \u2014 is spread awareness and also spread goofiness and spread love in the most positive way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thought of leaving Florida has crossed Daffne\u2019s mind. But she said she believes there\u2019s a fight to be had to protect LGBTQ+ rights, so she plans to stay put for now. This Pride month, Daffne encourages everyone to celebrate who they are and to be proud of that person.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some members of the LGBTQ+ community say recognizing Pride Month is more important this year, in light of measures passed by the Florida Legislature. Among them is the Parental Rights… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[5304],"class_list":["post-33110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-former-polk-county-educator-leaves-school-system-for-lgbtq-activism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}