Florida and Kentucky are losing educators to extreme anti-LGBTQ+ laws
Originally published by The 19th
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In Florida and Kentucky, teachers are struggling under the weight of the most extreme anti-LGBTQ+ education laws in the country. And some of them are leaving — either their profession or their state.
Nick Clarkson, a transgender man who has been teaching for 13 years, resigned last month from the New College of Florida after the college voted to eliminate the gender studies program where he taught.
Policies enacted this year by the state’s board of education, or signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, would keep Clarkson from telling students the pronouns that match his gender identity — which he’s used for all of his adult life — and from being able to use the correct restroom on campus. As policies started going into effect this summer, the surreal new reality of being a trans teacher in Florida started to sink in. Clarkson wasn’t sure if he’d be safe on campus anymore.
When the college voted to dissolve the gender studies program in August, that was the final signal to Clarkson that it was time to go. He joined an exodus of faculty and students after nearly half of the college’s board of trustees was replaced by DeSantis.