Sophia Galvin Testifies at Miami-Dade County Public School Board - Video

Rainbow Redemption Project founder Sophia Galvin testifies against item H11 at the Miami Dade County Public School board.

On September 7th, 2022 the Miami Dade County Public School board held a meeting to discuss item H11, which proposed an LGBTQ history month across district schools. Sophia Galvin, a former MDCPS student and founder of the Rainbow Redemption Project, publicly testified against this proposal. Ms. Galvin also sent a detailed open-letter to the school board prior to the meeting. She believes that similar school activities had influenced her decision to identify as transgender and later pursue medical transition. Additionally, she asserts that an LGBTQ history month violates freedom of expression and has an inappropriate psychological impact on impressionable teenagers. After hours of public commentary, the school board agreed with both Ms. Galvin and the majority sentiment of the community. Item H11 was rejected in an 8-1 vote.

The item’s sponsor, Ms. Lucia Baez-Gellar, argued the history month would serve to recognize that “LGBTQ individuals have made and continue to make lasting contributions to strengthen the fabric of American society.” Her proposed actions mandated the inclusion of two gay-rights Supreme Court cases (Obergefell v. Hodges [2015] and Bostock v. Clayton County [2020]) in the 12th grade curriculum. Secondly, Baez-Gellar suggested implementing “policies and practices… that respect and support LGBTQ students and their families throughout the school year.”

Ms. Galvin, along with her Miami Dade county community members, found this phraseology to be too vague. The lack of clarity of such “policies and practices” reminded her of inappropriate pro-LGBTQ education she had received in her freshman year. In 2014, a gender therapist was invited to her high school to host a presentation on gender identity. Ms. Galvin and her fellow students were instructed that they may have a true “gender identity” apart from their birth sex. They were encouraged to explore this identity, and informed about the options of social and medical gender transition.

A mandatory LGBTQ history month raised concerns for Sophia in light of that experience. It seemed unclear what would be introduced on campus, and jeopardized the rights of students to question these views in compliance with MDCPS Policy 2240: “Controversial Issues And Student Expression.”

In an 8-1 vote against the proposal, item H11 was rejected. The school board cited a variety of reasons, including potential violations of both policy 2240 and Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act. School board officials also stated their responsibility was to vote in accordance with the vocal disapproval from parents and community members.

Rainbow Redemption Project was very happy to see an overwhelming rejection of LGBTQ indoctrination. We fundamentally believe that the ideology surrounding gender identity is spiritual and philosophical, not scientific. The claim that a biological woman can identify as male is a subjective, cultural idea. It cannot be fairly taught in schools without equal representation of opposing perspectives. If it is appropriate to instruct students in this way, they must also be allowed to hear that God created human beings as male and female. If many of us had heard this truth in schools, as opposed to only hearing one side, we may have made radically different life decisions.

Moving forward, we also plan to be involved in more public hearings regarding LGBTQ topics in schools, governments, and workplaces. It is vitally important to represent a Christ-centered view of this issue that features the voices of the ex-LGBTQ community. We want to provide guidance from the experiences of those who have stepped away from that community, which is often missing on both sides of this polarized issue. We also want to make known that this is an issue of human identity, and the solution remains in faith in Jesus Christ alone.

If you would like to read Sophia’s full open letter to the Miami Dade County Public School system, you can do so here.