I was one of thousands of students at Cypress Bay High School who walked out against the Don’t Say Gay Bill on March 9th. In this reportback, I will be sharing my experience and takeaways from the demonstration.
In the days prior to the actual walkout, Cypress Bay’s GSA (Gender-Sexuality Alliance) had received permission from the school to go ahead with the walkout. This occurred in stark contrast to a walkout for COVID safety, the prospect of which a month and a half ago was immediately shut down via county directive. Though it is a good thing that security did not disrupt this student protest, it reflects the near-impossibility of spontaneous action in high schools excepting times of mass social unrest.
On the day of the actual walkout, of course, there was a general energy of anticipation. Most of the student body was aware of the walkout to occur, but many teachers likely holding right-wing beliefs had told their students ahead of time that they would defy a schoolwide directive to allow all who wished to attend to leave the classroom.
During 2nd period, during which the walkout actually happened, the school administration did not announce it over the PA as they had promised student organizers. Regardless, everyone began to leave their classrooms and head towards the courtyard.
Me and my friends made it outside and found a crowd far larger than we had anticipated. By then, probably at least 1,500. The news choppers were already there, ahead of time, with 3 already circling the school. WSVN, WPLG10, and CBS4, but for some reason there was a news station from Nashville live-streaming our walkout. There was a substantial amount of enthusiasm present for the demo at this point.
The crowd of around 2000 students had begun to lose enthusiasm as soon as the walkout halted in place. Numbers had shrunk drastically by the time that the walkout had officially ended, because many people had wanted escalations, as, regrettably, were later instigated by homophobic rednecks at Western High 2 days later.
There had been a general sentiment of excitement in the student body, as a lot of people thought it would escalate, as the first walkout since the 2008 and 2013 riots at the school that hadn’t been organized by the school itself, as the post-Parkland massacre walkout had been.
The 2008 and 2013 riots both began as food fights that escalated due to a general apathy for school as well as a disappreciation of how the school was being run. In 2008, the riots escalated with haste, with students engaging in running battles with school security and throwing down barricades across campus. Eventually, most students left campus as the confrontations winded down.
In 2013, though, many confrontations with security occurred, and the assistant principal was tackled, resulting in several detainments and a few dozen suspensions made. The crowd didn’t leave the school, but rather stayed in and made the most of the opportunity to skip class.