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 would keep Clarkson from telling students the pronouns that match his gender identity, which he’s used for all of his adult life. These policies will also stop him from using the correct restroom on campus. Florida and Kentucky are the only two states to ban classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity all the way through 12th grade. Both states have passed anti-LGBTQ+ education laws that advocates see as the most extreme in the country, largely due to how far-reaching they are compared to other states. As both states face high teacher shortages and turnover, more educators say they plan to leave due to the political climate. Jason Glass, who’s leaving his post as Kentucky’s education commissioner on September 29, believes that his state took a page out of Florida’s playbook on anti-LGBTQ+ education laws and made it worse.
