Don’t Say Gay, Anne Hutchinson and Women as War Spies

Don’t Say Gay Bill

In the State of Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill into effect. The media has given this bill a different name though and that name is the “Don’t say Gay” bill. This name was given because of the aggressive nature directed towards people of the LGBTQ+ community. The bill’s main clauses are to ban discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in age groups younger than third grade, it gives parents more ease to sue school districts if teachings are about subjects the parents don’t favor, it requires schools to disclose if a student uses mental health services, and if a child expresses issues with their gender identity or sexuality the school is required to tell the parents.

As anyone can notice, these regulations are targeting the LGBTQ+ youth in Florida. For conversations about an entire group of our population to be banned is completely unjust. At such a young age, students usually don’t express their own sexuality or gender identity yet, but to ban the conversations sets a precedent that it is okay to do so in the future. With parents also having the ability to sue schools easier, this will also discourage conversations at higher levels because of the fear that a school could lose funding if a disgruntled parent was not happy with their child’s exposure to a certain topic. To add, students that have no safe space within their home to talk about these topics, will now not have a safe space within schools either. Villainizing these very normal and basic human behaviors only isolates students and makes them struggle more.

A story that made a lot of noise about the issues of this bill is about Zander Moricz. He is a high school senior in Florida and he challenged this bill during his Valedictorian speech. He was forced to carefully tip-toe around the subject of his gay coming out story. Without the ability to say the word, “Gay” he used his curly hair as an analogy. He shared the dangers that can follow this bill and how it is a step in the wrong direction. He is also one of the youngest plaintiffs on the trial against the bill and is actively making a difference for the students in Florida. We should all try to find ways to help this cause and vote against bills like this so they don’t become normalized and widespread across the country.

Anne Hutchinson

Anne Hutchinson was born in Lincolnshire, England in 1591 to Francis Marbury and Bridget Dryden. She would grow up to be a one of the first American feminists and spiritual leaders in colonial Massachusetts. She stood against gender roles and was actually taught to read by her father. She arrived in Massachusetts in 1634 with her husband William and her 12+ children and began holding meetings with local women where she would criticize puritan beliefs and discuss her mentor, John Cotton’s sermons. Her husband was very supportive of her preaching and defended it with her. Male religious leaders did not like opposition of any kind, especially from a woman. She used her right to preach and never gave authority to male preachers. She was tried later on for heresy and was turned on by Cotton.

Many male religious leaders saw her act of rebellion as a threat to their power. If she was able to inspire enough women to stand against this male dominated space, then they would have no control over their disciples. Anne made a claim in court that she personally was able to interpret God’s teachings, which was not liked. Her family were then excommunicated from the Boston colony and they moved to Rhode Island where they would live until William passed. After the death of her husband, she moved to New Netherlands (New York) where she would die in a massacre. She led such a meaningful and powerful life that influenced so many. Standing against gender roles and male authority is such a powerful thing to do especially in that time. Her activism and preaching was very ahead of its time and she is a pioneer in feminism. She felt so strong about her beliefs that she was willing to do anything to share them.

Women as War Spies

During World War II, there was a large shortage of troops and military personnel. This opened the first chance for women to serve their country. Entire military branches were actually created solely for women. Throughout Europe, intelligence agencies discovered how important of a role women could play in espionage because at the time they were overlooked by men. This discovery led to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) being created in America in 1942. This was the first intelligence agency to be created in the United States and it covertly hired women to perform various tasks including processing top secret messages from the field. Some women were even sent overseas to work undercover and gain intelligence. Many courageous women risked their lives to assist our country during the war.

Common tasks given to women in espionage consisted of spying, transporting weapons and supplies, and helping people escape and get back to safety. Without the acts of these brave women the war may have had a different outcome.

There are so many untold and unrecorded stories of women such as Julia McWilliams who started as a secretary and advanced to a Senior Intelligence Officer. For a woman to do things like this is almost unheard of and this aspect of our history should be shared more. During WWII, the espionage of female spies positively changed the trajectory of the war.