WGNO

New Orleans students hold walkout in protest of Louisiana’s anti-LGBTQ bills

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — High school students in New Orleans are walking out in protest of what is being called anti-LGBTQ legislation in Louisiana.

On Friday, March 25, students at Ben Franklin High School held a walk-out to voice their opposition of Louisiana’s House Bill 570, which would prohibit transition-related healthcare for transgender children.

The students are also walking out in opposition of HB837, what Step Up Louisiana is calling the Louisiana version of Florida’s recently-passed “Don’t Say Gay” bill. According to the bill’s text, the new legislation would prohibit discussion of LGBTQ topics in Louisiana classrooms.

“This legislation will seriously harm and very likely kill our queer youth,” Ben Franklin student Issa Zorrilla said in a statement.

View copies of both Louisiana bills in the readers below.

LA HB837

LA HB570