When Jill Bjorklund, Mollie Jo Blahunka, and PJ Hurley helped Ankeny students host a student-led drag show in 2022, the event was private, organized by the school's Gender-Sexuality Alliance, and described by attendees as "wholesome." No matter. The district suspended two teachers, banned all three from sponsoring student activities, and filed ethics charges against them with the Iowa Board of Education Examiners. Every charge was dismissed.

The three teachers just won a $150,000 settlement. The harm to their students is harder to undo. The lawsuit said the district's response "sent a clear message to every LGBTQ+ student and staff member that they were unwelcome and unsafe in their own schools." Students who attended the show were bullied afterward.

This is what happens when a state turns hostility toward LGBTQ+ students into law. In 2023, Governor Kim Reynolds signed legislation banning instruction related to gender identity and sexual orientation in Iowa schools. An appellate court has since allowed the law to take effect. Nathan Maxwell of Lambda Legal called it "a cruel and unconstitutional law that silences LGBTQ+ children, erases their existence from classrooms, and forces educators to expose vulnerable students to potential harm at home."

Teachers who support all of their students should not have to choose between their careers and their conscience. No child should go to school afraid that their identity is illegal to acknowledge.

We urge Governor Reynolds and the Iowa Legislature to repeal the law silencing LGBTQ+ students and teachers. We also call on the Ankeny school district to issue a public apology to Bjorklund, Blahunka, Hurley, and the LGBTQ+ students whose school year was upended by district-driven retaliation.

Sign this petition to demand Iowa repeal its Don't Say Gay law and protect every teacher who stands with their students.