Students of the LGBTQ community come together to plan a walk-out after a petition that was started by senior Alex King. 

“The main purpose of the petition was to get student backing before we went to STAD with a list of demands for the way the situation should have been handled and how it should be handled in the future.” King said.

 The petition spread at a rapid rate.

King said, “We ended up getting it across the district and across states and to parents. We ended up getting over twenty-six hundred signatures.”

Senior Danny Lillis proudly stood up for his rights in the community. 

“My initial reaction was, I was just in disbelief. I could have started crying but I didn’t want to because I wanted to hold it together for this.” Lillis said, “But to see the majority of the school out here, it fills my heart so much. To see all these allies and everyone here for me, not just for me but for everyone to feel safe in this school.” 

 “I slowly started to realize I had that support with the petition and all that being out there. And then today really confined that and it really showed that. Whenever we started out yelling I feel like we were able to make us heard even more than we already were.” Lillis said. 

King and a few of other students went to STAD the morning of the walkout with the results of the petition and a list of demands of how the situation should be handled and how future situations should be handled. The conversation lasted about three hours.

“We don’t have exact information on that but they heard us pretty well, I can say that and I can say that they did help with the organization of the walkout this morning, very much helped ensure that.” King said.

At the walkout King, Natalie Morris, and Lauren Strong tried to talk to the crowd of students, but they ended up getting talked over. They were able to talk to some of the students and thank them for coming at the end. They all also helped keep students that were attending school today on the school property and to help keep the crowd calm.

  “Honestly our goal with this was not to attach any of the principles and we accounted for it. We talked to the principals about the fact that may happen.” King said after a few students chanted at the administration. “We wanted to do our best to sort of control, to make sure no one was being harmed in what was being said. Our main speech was going to be about thanking people for their support for coming out.”

Students say that they are very happy with the outcome of the walk-out.

“So I feel like today was very impactful,” Lillis said.