This Bitch: JessicaTillmann

Down there in Florida, where insanity runs rampant and Hate is the law, Seminole County Public Schools is offering to reprint the 2023 Lyman High School yearbook in order to remove two pages of LGBTQ+ content because some parents, well, to be fair, one hate-filled parent, is upset about it.

Jessica Tillmannn, chapter chair of the Seminole County Moms for Liberty—meaning Liberty for her group of bigots and homophobes, but not for everyone—says she’s concerned about the definitions in the yearbook because she thinks they are teaching children about sex outside the state-approved standards that parents can choose to opt their children out of:

“They shouldn’t have any sexual definitions in a yearbook. This is a yearbook that goes to every student as young as 14.”

I got news for you Jessica, fourteen-year-olds know about LGBTQ+ people, and probably even have friends who are gay and bisexual and trans and genderfluid, so your homophobia is kind of ridiculous, misplaced and a little too late.

But what really has Jessica’s Spanx twisted? It’s the fact that the LGBTQ+ section in the yearbook includes photos of member of the student’s Gay-Straight Alliance, definitions of LGBTQ+ terms, a passage on the evolution of pronouns and a profile of a student who advocates for the LGBTQ+ community.

How terrifying.

And what kind of terms do they explain? How about genderfluid, defined as “a gender identity that changes with time and/or a given situation. This is opposed to a fixed gender identity.” The yearbook also defines aromantic as “someone who experiences little to no romantic attraction. Many aromantics still feel sexual attraction.”

Danielle Pomeranz, Lyman High School’s faculty yearbook adviser, disagrees with the district’s offer to scrub LGBTQ+ content since the book features all aspects of the school’s diverse student body, including Latinos in Action, Black History Month and even the Dungeons & Dragons Club and defended the LGBTQ+ section:

“They are definitions. They are not teaching anything about sex at all. … Nobody is teaching anybody about sex acts. It is ridiculous.”

And while the principal approved the yearbook’s content it is under scrutiny because the Florida Department of Education got involved when Jessica Tillmann had her Hissy Hate Fit and decided only her opinion counts; wrong, again, Jessica.

If fact, Jessica Tillmann is so thrilled it be a bigot and homophobe that she is also requesting that Danielle Pomeranz  and the school be fired. Sadly, Danielle Pomeranz resigned from her job a couple of weeks ago in part because of Florida’s political climate and a lack of support from Seminole County’s school leadership, so there’s one less teacher to care about all students in Florida.

Still, I have a suggestion for Jessica Tillmann: shut the fuck up. If you don’t like LGBTQ+ content in a  yearbook, get yourself a pair of scissors and cut the pages out of the book, but why believe your opinion should rule over all opinions?

On the upside, as of now, no one had requested a reprinted yearbook, not even Jessica Tillmann.

I guess she wanted her Fifteen Minutes of fame as a bigot and homophobe, and I hope she sits all alone in her hate rots there.

As for the LGBTQ+ community, we need to speak up, loudly, and condemn this kind of hate. Staying silent is not an option; use your voice, use your vote. What happens to one of us, happens to us all.

Orlando Sentinel