After Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the controversial House Bill 1557 into law, also known as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, a 17-year-old student from Miami named Javier Gomez led a rally against the bill.
Gomez, who was president of the Gay Straight Alliance at Miami’s iPrep Academy, then became more and more known as a student protest leader in the fight against the controversial Florida law as the demonstrations started to really pick up steam.
“I really just wanted my school to understand how pivotal and monumental their participation is,” as Gomez was quoted by NBC News as saying. “It shows Florida legislators that this is important. This is an affected community, and we need to stand for it.”
On Wednesday, the White House invited Gomez to speak during Biden's planned Pride Month event where the president signed an executive order on "preventing and combatting discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans."
Gomez told WLRN in March, “I promise you if it wasn't for my counselors and my teachers, I would probably still be confined into this box,” Gomez said. "I know that kids that are not out yet and don't have that support system at home are also terrified because sometimes teachers are our best support systems. We’re with them eight hours a day, five times a week. So it's just, it's scary.”
