Students in Arizona did a walk-out due to anti-LGBT laws, and "The Trevor Project" is refunding donations after an LGBT bias investigation came to light.

Anti-LGBT Laws Led to Students Walking Out

The state of Arizona is currently GOP-controlled since the 2020 election.

Since then, the legislature has proposed countless numbers of anti-LGBT laws and hundreds of high school students had something to say about it.

“They are killing our peers. We do not need any more students hurt by your actions. We aren’t out here missing our school day and interrupting our education because we want to. We have been forced into it,” said organizer and 16-year-old Hamilton High School student, Dawn Shim, according to The AZ Mirror.

The law targeting transgender youth prompted Shim to create Support Equality Arizona Schools. Though the organization is run by 10 students in Chandler, other cities like Gilbert, Tucson, and Flagstaff have all shown support for the mission they are trying to achieve. 

“It is embarrassing that we live in a state and a country where people are at risk simply for being who they are and loving who they want,” Blues Patrick, a senior at Hamilton, told AZ Mirror. 

‘The Trevor Project’ to Refund Donation After LGBT Bias Investigation Comes Out

In an investigation by The 74, the organization reported that “The Trevor Project” would be giving back up $25,000 in donations because of the controversy surrounding their now severed partnership with Gaggle. In the original reports, The 74 found that the student surveillance company had been LGBT-biased.

Gaggle used “artificial intelligence and human content moderators to sift through billions of student chat messages and homework assignments each year in search of students who may harm themselves or others,” reported The 74.

“We’re disappointed that The Trevor Project has decided to pause our collaboration,” said Gaggle spokesperson Paget Hetherington. “However, we are grateful for the opportunity we have had to learn and work with them and will continue with our mission of protecting all students regardless of how they identify.”

The partnership between Gaggle and The Trevor Project came about when the surveillance company donated between $25,000 to $50,000 to the company.