PALM COAST, FL — (03-07-22) — A Florida high school student has been suspended indefinitely for handing out Gay Pride flags during a walkout to protest the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Flagler Palm Coast High School junior Jack Petocz was one of the organizers of the statewide walkout last Thursday to protest House Bill 1557, the controversial legislation that would prohibit school instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

Petocz said he would do it again. “I may have been suspended, but I will not be silenced. I am proud of who I am, and I am #notafraidtosaygay,” said Petocz in a Twitter statement.

Over 500 students to part in his Palm Coast school walkout last Thursday, chanting, “Say gay!”. During the protest Petocz gave out 200 pride flags he said he purchased with his own money.

Petocz told the Daytona Beach News-Journal he was called into the principal’s office after the protest, “told I was disrespectful and openly advocating against staff.”

“They suspended me from campus until further notice. I informed the principal I wasn’t going to speak with him and was going to talk to a lawyer,” Petocz told the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

According to Petocz, an hour before the protest, the school’s principal pulled him aside and specifically complained about the pride flags. “He told me I wouldn’t be allowed to [distribute the flags]. He went further to question the intentions of our protest, asking if pride flags were relevant to opposition to the bill.” said Petocz.

A spokesperson for the Flagler school district insisted in a statement to the Daytona newspaper that Petocz had not been suspended but had been “placed on excused administrative leave” while school officials investigate.

We will continue to follow this story and bring you new developments as they become available.

Article by: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

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