Despite the apparent resolve of Florida lawmakers and the governor's office to stand firm in support of the state's Parental Rights in Education bill, the sabre rattling from Democrats and leftwing activists is in full swing.

Prior to final passage of the measure, the March 5 Daytona Beach News-Journal ran a story about Flagler Palm Coast High School junior Jack Petocz, whose efforts to organize "a statewide walkout to protest House Bill 1557," resulted in his alleged suspension for distributing pride flags during the walkout. The newspaper described the bill as "a controversial measure" and dutifully mentioned its "Don't Say Gay" moniker.

The article conceded that a Flagler spokesman denied Petocz had been suspended, but rather that he had been "put on an administrative excused absence," which would allow the school to continue its investigation into the incident while permitting Petocz "to complete schoolwork without any dings to [his] attendance or student record."

When word of the school's action got out, activists started a petition through the organization Change.org, which calls itself "The world's platform for change," demanding that Petocz's "suspension" be rescinded. The petition quickly attracted 3,840 signatures. On Twitter, #NotAfraidToSayGay was reportedly the second-hottest trending hashtag as of March 4.

The News-Journal noted that "Petocz is a political strategist associate for Gen-Z for Change, a coalition of more than 500 creators and activists ‘fighting for progressive change to promote civil discourse and political action among our generation.'" In a public statement through Gen-Z for Change, Petocz declared: "I am proud of who I am and proud of all those protesting regressive bills. We must let our politicians know that no matter how hard they try, they cannot suppress our identities or silence our voices."

Other leftwing/progressive groups entered the fray, including the ACLU of Florida, which posted: "We support students exercising their First Amendment Rights." The national organization PEN America publicly called on the school to reverse its decision. Its misleading and dramatic statement read in part: "PEN America is alarmed to hear of the suspension of Jack Petocz from Flagler Palm Coast High School in FL for organizing a rally against the state's pending ‘Don't Say Gay' bill and distributing LGBTQ pride flags. This appears both disproportionate and unconstitutional... This wrongful suspension must be reversed." The statement continued with the patently false assertion: "This comes as Florida moves to ban discussions of LGBTQ+ identifies [sic] in schools, and books about LGBTQ+ lives are being removed from Florida's school library shelves. Petocz's efforts to make his and other students' voices heard should be lauded, not retaliated against."

Another Twitter post from the LGBTQ civil rights organization Equality Florida shared Petocz's story and announced: "We stand with Jack Petocz... With LGBTQ people who refuse to be erased."

Parents refuse to be silenced

The question is whether leftwing activists have overplayed their hand. All indications are that parents are not backing down and that legislation such as Florida's Parental Rights in Education bill is a direct result of their activism and determination to retake control of their public schools.

A recent Gallup poll appears to suggest that parents are happy with their public schools, and public-school cheerleaders are quick to charge that the current fuss is generated by a few out-of-touch fuddy duddies who have no children. But unfortunately for liberals and the uninformed, the events of the past two years prove otherwise. Polls can be skewed by the way questions are framed as well as by the audiences targeted. The explosion of parents' rights groups and the extent to which parents are protesting reprehensible curriculum cannot be explained away by leftwing disinformation.

Indeed, liberal hypocrisy has been on national display. One blatant example has been the irrational demands made by those in power that schoolchildren (and others) remain masked even while they go maskless themselves. And ordinary citizens are fed up.

Last month, outraged mom Alecia Vaught called out the Montgomery County School Board for forcing district schoolchildren to continue wearing masks even after Governor Glenn Youngkin made mask-wearing optional in public schools. The Blaze quoted Vaught as telling the board:

• We sat here last year and listened to you guys preach to us about Gov. Northam's executive orders and how we must follow them. You guys remember that? We do. So here's the governor [Youngkin] that comes into office, but you don't want to follow his orders. Why is that? ... Two different governors. Two different political parties. So, we were supposed to follow it last year, but not this year. That makes no sense and makes all of you a bunch of hypocrites.

Vaught then singled out board chair Sue Kass, whom she said "yelled at her for taking off her mask" at a board meeting in 2021. Vaught displayed photos from Kass's Facebook page that showed Kass appearing maskless in public. Kass was infuriated and ordered Vaught to sit down. When she refused, Kass demanded that the attending security officer remove her. The officer declined to do so, and Kass "stormed out of the meeting." Vaught called out to her as she departed: "We're coming for your seat," to which Kass fumed: "You can have it."

Other legislative efforts

Continuing resistance from parents is fueling turnover on school boards and legislative responses such as the passage of Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act. But Florida is not the only state working to protect parents and children through legislation.

Texas law already requires licensed professionals who come into direct contact with children, including medical professionals and teachers, to report child abuse or face criminal penalties. A recent advisory opinion issued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton declared that prescribing transgender drugs and surgeries for minors violates this law.

"The Texas Family Code is clear — causing or permitting substantial harm to the child or the child's growth and development is child abuse," Paxton said. "Courts have held that an unnecessary surgical procedure that removes a healthy body part from a child can constitute a real and significant injury or damage to the child." These include "genital mutilation surgeries, mastectomies," and any other procedures that involve "removing from children otherwise healthy or non-diseased body parts or tissue," as well as transgender hormone drugs, such as puberty blockers.

The day after the attorney general's declaration, Governor Greg Abbott issued a letter ordering the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate "any reported instances of Texas children being subjected to abusive gender-transitioning procedures." The governor added: "Texas law also imposes a duty on DFPS to investigate the parents of a child who is subjected to these abusive gender-transitioning procedures, and on other state agencies to investigate licensed facilities where such procedures may occur.

The DFPS issued a statement that it will enforce the attorney general's declaration.

The states of Arkansas and Tennessee passed laws in 2021 that restrict gender-altering procedures for minors. LifeSiteNews notes that "least 16 states have introduced bills in recent months" to combat these practices. For example, State Rep. Suzie Pollock of Missouri has introduced H.B. 2649, the Missouri Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, to protect minors from harmful physiological gender transition procedures.

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