Hello there, I am a Rock Hill High School Student. I have lived in Prosper, Texas since I was about 6 years old. I went to Baker Elementary School, then to Cockrell Elementary, then Rogers Middle School, then Prosper High School, and now I am here. I have always known, growing up, that there are a high number of conservative parents and adults in Prosper and in North Texas as a whole. I started to question my sexuality even as a child. I came out to my mother around 7th grade. My older sister is a lesbian, so my mother was accepting of me to say the least. I don't know if my father is honestly, we don't talk about it a lot.

Anyways, I saw a video going around social media of a school board meeting on masks. This then turned into a discussion on the LGBT. A student from the same school came to the stand to express his discomfort in a teachers classroom. Link to video. You can see in this video, not just the student had a complaint. An adult. Who claims they care about the children in our schools.

Here are some of my favorite highlights. 

• Prosper mom confused as to why there are gender and pronouns in school. Says she is a former "LGBT" and god saved her. 
• Being asked what this student's pronouns are and preferred name makes them "uncomfortable" and wishes nobody goes through what he did. 
• Lastly, my favorite. Prosper mom is very angry with the school board. 

I want you to notice how the majority of the audience applauds after each person takes the stand in these clips. I cannot wrap my head around what these people's thought processes are. The funny thing is, they boo and heckle the doctors who say they would like for masks to be worn in school. Children. They are acting like children. 

Furthermore, as a result of this young man's complaint and the other two women in the video, the teacher was forced to take down his flag. Everyone, especially students who are LGBTQ, who know this teacher feel that they are in a safe space in his classroom and is accepted for who they are. 

I am in GSA as well and we were at first told we could not have a float. After one of my friends (and fellow member) protested, we were then allowed. However. We are not allowed to show any sort LGBT symbolism. In one of our meetings, we expressed how we want Middle Schoolers, future students of Rock Hill, to feel like they have a safe space at this school. It has gone to the point that not just my fellow classmates have been homophobic; freely spewing out hate speech and slurs, but the school board has shown that they do not care. Recently, a good friend of mine told me that their fellow classmate reacted by saying "ew" whenever they mentioned they were gay. He also did not want to work with his partner on a project because he was black. My friend informed the teacher but as far as my knowledge goes, he was not punished. The school board does not want us to have just an ounce of representation in our learning environment. I understand having a different opinion. But I do not understand nor tolerate bigotry. 

Lastly, I would like to bring up another point. It has been known around the school that a teacher has a "Blue Lives Matter" flag in their room. Is this their pride? Supporting a lifestyle, a job? Oh, but other teachers aren't allowed to have a "Black Lives Matter" flag in their room. It is too political and makes others "uncomfortable". Do you see the parallelism and unfairness? If they can have those, might I dare say political flags, we should be able to have the LGBTQ+ flag and a Black Lives Matter Flag. 

I thank you for taking your time out of your day to read this message. I encourage you to sign this petition in hopes of expressing mine, and my fellow classmates' outcry. After signing this petition, please feel free to contact the PISD school board officials, our districts officials, our principals, our APs, and even sharing with our community via social media or just telling a friend. I hope that there will be changes in our community and that we citizens of Prosper live up to our motto, "We are Prosper, We are One." 

Thank you.