What Next: An Out Teen in the “Don’t Say Gay” State

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Slate Podcasts

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 September 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today’s high schoolers have lived in an America with legally recognized gay marriage for nearly half of their lives, but this fall, Florida students are starting the first school year under the “Parental Rights in Education” law, a.k.a. “Don’t Say Gay,” and LGBTQ students are bracing for a very different classroom experience. Guest: Will Larkins, a 17-year-old senior at Winter Park High School, Florida and cofounder of the school’s Queer Student Union. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Quick heads up, there's a little strong language in this episode.
0:10.6	Will Larkins wasn't very excited to tell me about his first day of school.
0:14.6	Oh, first day of school.
0:16.7	It was, I mean, it was school.
0:18.6	I was back at school.
0:20.7	So instead, I asked him to tell me what he wore.
0:26.4	At this, he perked up immediately.
0:28.8	Okay, I wore the shirt that I'm wearing right now, which is a hot pink sparkly, like,
0:34.8	long sleeve shirt.
0:36.8	I wore these.
0:37.8	Will is 17, a senior at Winter Park High School, near Orlando.
0:42.6	Fashion is kind of his thing, or one of them.
0:45.2	And then I wore a piece of necklace, pearls, and then the makeup, and then pink glitter
0:50.6	on my cheeks.
0:51.6	Okay, you dress to impress.
0:53.3	I dress every day, and it's not to impress anyone by myself.
0:57.2	It's funny that Will is more into his clothes than school, because if you have heard of Will,
1:03.5	it's because of something he did in school last year.
1:06.7	He was dressed to impress back then, too.
1:08.2	So, the stone wall uprising.
1:11.5	Essentially, people were fed up with abuse.
1:14.7	This is a video of Will in front of his history class, in a lovely red cocktail dress.
	...

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