Metro Weekly

Central Florida 8th-grader wins right to start Gay-Straight Alliance

“I’m just so happy that our club is finally going to be allowed to meet. There’s only about a month left of school, but that’s still a month we can use to start doing the work to make this school a safer and more welcoming place.”

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Bayli Silberstein, an 8th-grader at Carver Middle School in Leesburg, Fla., commenting after a settlement was reached today – a day after she filed suit – with the Lake County School Board allowing her to start a Gay-Straight Alliance student club. Silberstein’s mother, Erica Silberstein, also commented, saying of her daughter, “All she ever wanted was to make her school a better place. I’m proud of her for fighting so hard, and I hope her story is a lesson that even if things seem tough, you can make things better.” (ACLU of Florida

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