My name is Annika Gibson, and I'm a senior in high school from Kentucky. On Thursday, January 25, 2024, the legislature of my state proposed House Bill 304, which if passed will force school officials to out their queer students to potentially unsupportive parents and/or guardians. Additionally, HB-304 will allow schools and school districts to ban the use of students' preferred names and pronouns. 

Outing queer students to their parents can and often does lead to them facing emotional and physical abuse from unsupportive parents. Roughly 35% of all queer children have been physically abused by their parents or guardians because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. There are no reputable statistics on the number of queer children who face emotional abuse from their parents, but it is almost certainly higher than those who face physical abuse. 

Additionally, forcing teachers to use students' deadnames and the wrong pronouns both creates a divide between students and teachers and leads to adverse mental health effects for the affected students, increasing the rates of depression, self harm, and suicidality. The infamous 41% statistic exists for a reason, after all. 

Lastly, this policy would just create additional headaches for our already overtaxed teachers. No teacher really wants to call home for any reason, especially one as trivial as the name a student wishes to go by. 

I'm fortunate enough to have a relatively accepting family and school environment, but I know that the vast majority of people in my community don't have this same luxury. This law, if it passes, will inevitably cause countless innocent children to suffer needlessly in the name of some absurd culture war. Please sign and share this petition to prevent such suffering. We, as a society, can do better for them. We must do better.