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(NEW YORK) — Jack Petocz, a student activist in Florida, led his peers on a school walkout last week in protest of what many call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which was passed by the state legislature on Tuesday.

The Florida bill would limit what educators in the state can teach about sexual orientation and gender identity inside some classrooms.

Under this legislation, these lessons “may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” The bill is now headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk.

“Queer people aren’t inherently not age-appropriate,” Petocz told ABC News Live on Wednesday. “Our existence fosters a more inclusive environment.”

What started as a peaceful way for young people to rally against the bill turned into a school suspension for Petocz. He said that just before the protest was about to start, he was pulled to the side by administrators voicing their opposition against students waving the pride flags that Petocz had purchased on his own for the event.

“My school district tried to prevent us from giving out pride flags and distributing them,” Petocz said. “I resisted, and I told students to not give up their pride flags, because they’re a symbol of our identity. They’re a symbol of acceptance and embrace of our queerness.”

Petocz said at least a dozen schools participated in walk-outs. Protests have also taken place across the state in the form of written letter campaigns, petitions and rallies.

Activists across the state and nation are making final pleas to DeSantis before he decides whether or not to sign the bill into law.

DeSantis has signaled his support for the bill but has not yet said whether he will sign it. Supporters of the bill say they want parents to have more control over what is being taught in the classroom.

“I call on Gov. DeSantis to have a meeting with me before he signs this into law to hear a firsthand account of how this bill will affect my community,” Petocz said.

Rep. Joe Harding, the bill’s sponsor, told ABC News, “Families are families. Let the families be families. The school district doesn’t need to insert themselves at that point when children are still learning how to read and do basic math.”

But for many of these students, political measures like these are personal attacks, according to Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). Over 21% of Generation Z identifies with the LGBTQ community, a recent Gallup poll found.

“It’s becoming a war zone for them,” Ellis said in an interview with ABC News Live on Wednesday morning.

“Why are we even discussing this?” Ellis asked. “What this does at the end of the day is politicize LGBTQ people who just want to go to school, learn how to read and write, and every now and then want to see their families represented as well.”

Ellis, who is gay, is a mother to young children and told ABC News that children’s books with two moms were her children’s favorite stories to read growing up. She said that this bill would prevent children with LGBTQ parents from being able to relate lessons to their own lives at home.

She pointed to other anti-LGBTQ bills that have been proposed this year, calling it a “coordinated effort” by conservative legislators. Bills targeting the community have popped up in other iterations — including bans against gender-affirming care for trans youth being proposed in Idaho and Alabama and bans on trans participation in women’s sports in Iowa and Indiana.

“These politicians are taking this opportunity to raise money for themselves and using our children and classrooms to create divisions,” Ellis said.

Equality Florida, a local organization that has been organizing many of the protests against the bill, said that it will “not allow this bill to harm LGBTQ Floridians.” The organization argues that removing LGBTQ content from classrooms creates an environment of exclusion and oppression against queer youth.

“Lawmakers rejected the voices of tens of thousands who sent emails and made phone calls asking for them to put a stop to this bill, thousands of courageous students who walked out of class, hundreds of people who testified before their bodies, dozens of child welfare organizations and leaders who spoke up to name the harms of the bill and their own Republican colleagues who refused to support it,” the organization said in a statement.

“Instead, they locked arms with the angry mobs hurling anti-LGBTQ slurs at those asking for nothing more than a safe place to go to school without having to hide who they are,” the statement read. “Our fight for full equality continues.”

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(NEW YORK) — For the past 24 years, the U.S. and Russia have worked together to construct and maintain the International Space Station, where research has led to some of the most important discoveries of the 21st century.

Now, 227 miles below the unrivaled laboratory, Russia has waged a war in Ukraine that’s pitted the country against the U.S. and its allies — leaving the future of the ISS in question.

“When you’re in space and you’re flying around the Earth at 17,500 miles an hour and in a very hazardous environment, cooperation is the most important thing,” said former astronaut Scott Kelly.

The ISS is divided into two sections: the Russian Orbital Segment operated by Russia and the United States Orbital Segment run by the U.S. American and Russian astronauts were the first to step inside the ISS in 1998.

Watch the full story on “ABCNL Prime” TONIGHT at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

From there, the partnership has continued. When the U.S. shuttle program ended in 2011, U.S. astronauts like Cady Coleman relied exclusively on Russian rockets to get her on board the station.

Coleman said once on board the craft, where you came from didn’t matter, and it was all about how to work and live with one another.

“Space is hard and space is dangerous. And in my experience … with our Russian partners it means sitting down, having a meal together,” said Coleman. “It means talking about what’s hard for you, what’s hard for them and how together we can get this accomplished. [We] look each other in the eye and realize that we’re all about the same thing.”

Coleman said that American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts would cooperate on everything from life-or-death missions to the mundane.

“I was up there with the three Russian cosmonauts,” said Coleman.”[We] share a goal of exploring space … and that goal doesn’t change whether we’re on the Earth or living up on the space station.”

NASA’s reliance on Russian rockets ended in 2020 when SpaceX debuted its Crew Dragon Capsule, but talks are underway to allow Russians on future SpaceX flights.

Russian cosmonauts continue to train at NASA’s facility in Houston.

Astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who holds the ongoing record for longest space flight, is set to end his 355 days in space in just three weeks. The plan is for him to land in Kazakhstan with two Russian cosmonauts on a Russian spacecraft.

But unprecedented sanctions against Russia could put Vande Hei’s return on hold. After Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two weeks ago, President Joe Biden announced new sanctions, including cutting more than half of Russia’s high-tech imports.

“It’ll degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program,” Biden said during a White House address Feb. 24.

Shortly after the remarks, NASA released a statement on U.S.-Russian civil space cooperation, saying that “no changes are planned” and that the agency will continue to support “ongoing in orbit and ground station operations.”

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia’s Space Agency and a close ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin, responded to Biden in a series of hostile tweets. On Feb. 26, he posted a video in Russian that threatened to leave Vande Hei behind in space and detach Russia’s segment of the space station altogether.

Kelly said he felt compelled to speak up and engaged with Rogozin on Twitter.

“I was just enraged that he, the [cosmonauts], said that they were going to leave an American crew member behind. I never thought I would ever hear anything so outrageous,” said Kelly.

NASA has remained silent on Rogozin’s threats to abandon Vande Hei in space. Prior to the conflict in Ukraine, Russia had announced plans to pull out of the space station as early as 2025.

Although war continues to wage on Earth, Kelly said he hopes that the U.S.-Russian partnership in space can be mended.

“I’ve known [people at the Russian Space Agency], many of them for well over two decades, I trust them. I’ve literally trusted them with my life before,” said Kelly, who added that the U.S. should still “prepare for the worst” and “hope for the best.”

Kelly said the ISS is an example of where peace is possible because all astronauts share a common goal: to explore and learn.

“I just hope people realize and want to keep this partnership together because it is one of the few things that unites all of humanity together,” said Kelly. “I think one of the biggest successes of the International Space Station is the international aspect of giving us something to work on together, that makes us friends.”

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(NEW YORK) — Idaho could become the latest state to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

Lawmakers in the State House voted in favor of bill HB 675, which makes it a felony to provide such care. Now the bill goes to the State Senate.

Anyone who provides or knowingly gives permission for a child or teen to receive hormone therapy or physical alterations to affirm their gender identity would be punished under this law and could face life in prison.

Gender affirmation is when transgender people make changes to their lives in accordance with their gender identity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That can be done through a change of clothing, hairstyles, mannerisms, names and pronouns.

Gender affirmation can also come in the form of hormone therapy or surgeries to alter one’s physical characteristics.

On the House floor, State Rep. Ilana Rubel told a story of her friend’s child who knew he was transgender from a young age. After he transitioned — publicly expressing oneself as another gender — Rubel said she saw him turn from a troubled youth to a successful college student.

“This is obviously not a step that a family takes lightly,” Rubel said. “This is a step that comes after literally thousands of hours of agonizing. There is no parent in the world who is just finding a way to force sex-change treatments on to their kids.”

She added, “They do this because they realize after endless excruciating probing that this is what their child needs.”

Rubel also noted that gender-affirming care is supported by medical organizations such as the American Medical Association, Idaho Medical Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics and more.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bruce Skaug, said he does not support underage gender reassignment surgeries or therapies and claimed that “Europe is pulling back from this type of procedure now because they’ve seen negative effects and there’s no positive mental health effect for children,” though he did not cite specific research or examples.

“We need to stop sterilizing and mutilating children under the age of 18,” Skaug went on. “This is a mental illness that needs to be treated,” referring to trans identities.

He suggested that people rely on “old fashioned counseling, talk therapy” and “traditional psychology methods” to address trans identities and needs in youth.

More than 30 states have introduced some kind of legislation against transgender youth — including bills that ban trans girls from sports or designating changing rooms for trans children based on their assigned sex at birth.

Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel at Human Rights Campaign, said she is disappointed that “some politicians in Boise have decided to follow Texas and Alabama down the path of imposing felony criminal penalties upon doctors who are simply doing their jobs.”

She noted that a recent study found that gender-affirming care reduces the risk of moderate or severe depression by 60% and suicidality by 73%.

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(HEALDSBURG, Calif.) — A group of grade-schoolers is inadvertently bringing joy, laughter and some wise words to thousands of strangers, all thanks to their Peptoc art project.

Peptoc is the brainchild of art teacher Jessica Martin and artist Asherah Weiss, who worked with the K-6 students at West Side Elementary School in Healdsburg, California. The children created vibrant flyers and posters filled with charming drawings and reassuring messages.

But it’s the second component of Peptoc – a free hotline – that has unexpectedly gone viral.

To experience Peptoc, simply dial 707-998-8410 and you’ll be greeted by several students who will give you multiple options to choose from:

“Please listen to the following options for encouraging messages. If you’re feeling mad, frustrated, or nervous, press 1. If you need words of encouragement and life advice, press 2. If you need a pep talk from kindergarteners, press 3. If you need to hear kids laughing with delight, press 4. If you would like to make a donation to support this project, please press 6. For encouragement in Spanish, press 5.”

The kids are full of suggestions: punch a pillow or go scream outside if you’re frustrated; indulge in ice cream if you’re sad or angry. They can be the cheerleader that’ll pull you right out of an afternoon slump: Try it again! Believe in yourself! It’s OK to be different!

Another favorite? “Estás triste, va compra donas!” (Spanish for “If you’re sad, go buy doughnuts!”)

“There’s a pretty clear reason why this is so popular. We’re in a very broken world right now and we need to hear this, from children especially,” Martin told “Good Morning America.”

The artist and educator, who has led the art program at West Side for the last four years, said it was powerful to hear the young students share their positivity despite setbacks like the pandemic and ongoing challenges like wildfires.

“It was really hard for me to hold it together when I was recording them,” Martin recalled. “The overwhelming sweetness of these kids … was crushing me but also, it broke my heart a little bit too, because a lot of these kids, what they were saying — they’re in first and second grade — what they were saying was very profound and it really spoke to their life experience.”

Weiss, also an alum of West Side, has been sharing the students’ creative work and posting the flyers around Healdsburg. “Someone thought I was putting up a lost dog poster or something like that and they’re like, ‘Oh, what did you lose?’ And then they realized what we were doing and they were very, very happy to see that outside their door,” the 34-year-old recalled.

Martin added that she has received messages from people from around the world after Peptoc went live on Feb. 26.

“I just heard back from a bunch of people from Argentina and it ranges from a whole cancer ward of patients getting chemotherapy, to a lady who just found out her mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s to a fellow high school teacher just saying how incredible the project was. It’s touched a lot of people, so we’re pretty proud of these kids,” Martin said.

“One little small, easy act of kindness can easily touch millions in just a few days,” she added.

Martin said she and the school are determined to maintain Peptoc “for months or years” and is raising funds online to keep it going indefinitely. She pointed out that another hotline, Callin’ Oates, which lets callers request any Hall & Oates song, has been going strong for the last decade.

“Within the first few days, we were getting 500 calls an hour and we had to find $800 a day with that volume,” Martin said. “I eventually was able to talk with the president (of hotline service Telzio) and she donated a million minutes to the project. We’re currently now getting 5,000 calls an hour. And that million minutes, I think, probably will last us through the end of next week.”

For Martin, the runaway success and response to Peptoc shows how necessary arts education is in schools.

“If this isn’t proof to fund arts, I don’t even know what to say,” she said.

As for the future of Peptoc, Martin is planning to work with students to record more advice, including additional Spanish messages. She and Weiss hope the students will continue to learn from the powerful project too.

“You don’t ever know how your work is going to be received,” Weiss said. “But just to take the courage to do something is what the message I want people to take from this.”

Added Martin: “I hope that the memory of this experience they’ll carry that with them through their life, that they won’t feel like they’re helpless in a dark world.”

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(NEW YORK) — A police retired officer who was acquitted last month for shooting and killing a fellow moviegoer who threw popcorn in his face during an argument said he stands by his actions, saying he was defending himself.

Curtis Reeves, 79, told ABC News’ Nightline that he wished the fatal fight between him and Chad Oulson didn’t happen and he feels sadness for the 43-year-old’s family. However, the former SWAT captain contended he had no choice but to use deadly force in what he called “a vicious attack.”

“I wish that none of this would have happened at all, but I don’t feel like an instigator,” Reeves told ABC News.

Reeves and his wife, Vivian, and Oulson and his wife, Nicole, had attended a showing of Lone Survivor at the Cobb Theater near Tampa, Florida, on Jan. 13, 2014.

Oulson was checking text messages from his 22-month-old daughter’s daycare during previews, according to investigators.

Reeves said he was bothered by Oulson’s phone and asked him to turn it off, which led to an argument. Reeves left the theater to alert a manager, but the argument escalated when he returned to his seat.

Surveillance footage showed Oulson throwing popcorn at Reeves’ face, and then the former SWAT captain took out a .380 semi-automatic handgun and opened fire. Oulson was killed, and his wife was shot in a finger as she had her hand on her husband’s chest to hold him back during the confrontation.

Nicole Oulson told ABC News shortly after the 2014 shooting that her husband did not threaten Reeves before the gun was drawn.

“It was a couple of words. No threats. No harm. No nothing,” Nicole Oulson said.

Reeves told ABC News he was unaware that popcorn had hit him until after he opened fire.

“What was in my mind was he was either trying to hit me or he was trying to come over the seat,” he said.

Reeves was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He was held under house arrest as his case made its way through criminal court.

Reeves tried to use Florida’s “stand your ground” law as his defense, but a judge denied his request in 2017.

The case went to trial earlier this year, and a jury acquitted Reeves on his charges on Feb. 25. Even without the “stand your ground” defense, Reeves’ attorneys successfully argued self-defense. They emphasized that an attack on someone over 65 is considered a felony in Florida and argued that Reeves actions were a “justifiable use of force.”

After the verdict, Nicole Oulson said in a statement to ABC News that the jury “got it wrong.”

“I want everyone to know that even though they tried to make Chad out to be a monster and the aggressor, he was an amazing man, husband, son, brother, friend and father,” she said.

“I will not just accept this result lying down,” Nicole Oulson said. “Chad may be gone, but he will never be forgotten, and I will use my voice to try and make sure no one has to experience what myself and my family had to go through.”

Reeves said he hasn’t had contact with the Oulson family but said he feels the same sadness for them as he does his own family. However, he said Oulson could have prevented the incident.

“It was something that was, I had no control over. He’s the only one that could have kept it from happening,” he said. “Certainly none of us, and I’m sure on both sides of the families, none of us wish it had happened like it did.”

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(PHILADELPHIA) — A Philadelphia police officer who fatally shot a 12-year-old boy after the boy allegedly fired into an unmarked police car and fled on foot will be fired, authorities said Tuesday.

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw announced that the officer will be suspended for 30 days, starting Friday, after which she intends to dismiss him for violating the department’s “use-of-force directive.”

“Based off of the evidence that I reviewed, it was clear that the use-of-force policy was violated,” Outlaw said during a press briefing.

The officer was one of four plainclothes officers in an unmarked car conducting surveillance in South Philadelphia on March 1 shortly before 7:30 p.m. when the shooting occurred, police said.

The officers approached two juveniles — a 17-year-old boy who they wanted to question and the 12-year-old boy — with the car’s emergency lights on, according to Outlaw.

The younger boy allegedly fired at the car, striking the passenger side rear window, police said. One of the officers was struck in the eye by glass after a bullet went through the car’s window, police said.

Two other officers then returned gunfire, shooting once each, before the suspect fled on foot with the firearm, Outlaw said. An officer gave chase and fired his gun twice, striking the boy in the back, she said.

The 12-year-old boy, identified by authorities as Thomas Siderio, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, police said.

“It’s tragic that we have trigger-pullers as young as 12,” said Outlaw. “And it’s tragic that we had one of our own, again, go against everything who we say we are. There are no winners here.”

None of the four officers have been identified by the department due to safety concerns, the commissioner said.

The officers were placed on administrative duty following the shooting, police said. The department did not have any further information Tuesday on the status of the other officers due to the ongoing investigation.

The 17-year-old was taken into custody following the shooting. He was later released and not charged, Outlaw said.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office is conducting a criminal investigation into the shooting. No charges have been filed at this time.

“The death of a child is always a tragedy, and in this instance, a factually complex and deeply troubling one based on preliminary investigative information,” District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement.

“Philadelphians are owed a comprehensive and transparent accounting of all activity surrounding the circumstances of young Thomas Siderio’s death and an unbiased and thorough investigation,” he continued. “When it is appropriate for us to do so, we will disclose findings of our currently active investigation and decision on whether or not to pursue any criminal charges.”

Siderio’s family filed a civil lawsuit against the four officers involved in the shooting on Thursday, their attorney, Conor Corcoran, told ABC News.

“This 12 year old was murdered at point blank range by a Philadelphia police officer,” he said in an email to ABC News.

He said the commissioner was “correct” in firing the officer in question, but disputed that the boy had a gun.

“They are claiming that young TJ possessed or fired a gun, when my information indicates that the body still has its fingernails, and so no gunpowder residue testing was performed,” Corcoran said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, has been charged with conspiracy related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, as part of the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the attack.

According to an indictment unsealed in federal court on Tuesday, Tarrio — though he wasn’t present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 — was instrumental in planning the riot.

Tarrio was arrested and released two days before the attack on separate charges stemming from an incident in November 2020, and was ordered to stay out of Washington, D.C., during the time frame surrounding the riot.

“The indictment alleges that Tarrio nonetheless continued to direct and encourage the Proud Boys prior to and during the events of Jan. 6, 2021,” said a statement from the Justice Department, “and that he claimed credit for what had happened on social media and in an encrypted chat room during and after the attack.”

Tarrio was indicted Tuesday on one count of each conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstruction of an official proceeding, as well as two counts each of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and destruction of government property.

He was arrested in South Florida following the indictment.

In an interview last month with a local news station in Miami, Tarrio said he doesn’t agree with or condone what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“We went to Washington, D.C., with the intent of sitting there and supporting President Trump and then drink beer after, and obviously, I wasn’t there and I can’t tell you what was in their heads, but I think the mob mentality just took over,” he told WTVJ.

Tarrio has not yet spoken to ABC News regarding Tuesday’s indictment.

The indictment of Tarrio “shows the complex nature of the ongoing investigation,” Javed Ali, former senior counterterrorism director at the National Security Council, told ABC News.

“Despite the fact Tarrio was not physically present at the Capitol that day, the charge suggests that he played a role in organizing and communicating with other Proud Boys associates who committed crimes and have likewise been charged and arrested,” said Ali.

“In combination with the seditious conspiracy charges filed against Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and several of his associates for their role on January 6th earlier this year, these legal strategies may put additional pressure on anti-government groups and deter any potential future violent plots,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — A Texas man who is the first to stand trial in the prosecution of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was found guilty on all charges including obstruction of an official proceeding for his role in disrupting the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for Prince Andrew and his accuser Virginia Giuffre filed notice Tuesday morning in the Southern District of New York court informing the court that the parties have officially settled the case.

The court document states the case has been dismissed, “with prejudice” and that “each party” will bear their own costs and fees. “It is so stipulated,” the document concludes.

The stipulation for dismissal awaits a signature from the judge.

Last month, Prince Andrew agreed to settle a sexual assault lawsuit from Giuffre.

The sum of the settlement was not disclosed, and a letter to the court said that Prince Andrew “intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.”

Giuffre had alleged that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked her to Prince Andrew, who she claimed took advantage and sexually abused her when she was under 18.

Prince Andrew had repeatedly denied the allegation and attacked Giuffre’s credibility and motives.

Giuffre and Epstein settled a civil lawsuit for $500,000 in 2009, which was the basis for Prince Andrew’s argument to have the case dismissed.

Epstein died by suicide at the at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan in 2019. He had been set to stand trial for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of girls in New York and Florida.

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(DES MOINES, Iowa) — Six teenagers have been arrested on murder charges stemming from a drive-by shooting Monday outside a Des Moines, Iowa, high school that left a 15-year-old boy dead and critically injured two female students, police said on Tuesday.

The teenager who was fatally shot is believed to have been the intended target, the Des Moines Police Department said in a statement Tuesday.

Most of the suspects were arrested within an hour of the shooting and all were in custody in several hours, police said.

“While this incident occurred outside of a school, it could have occurred in any one of our neighborhoods. The school is where the suspects found their target,” police said in the statement.

The two wounded teenage girls remained in a hospital Tuesday with life-threatening injuries, police said.

The names of the suspects and the victims were not released.

In addition to first-degree murder, the suspects were charged with two counts each of attempted murder, authorities said.

Overnight, homicide detectives executed multiple residential and vehicle search warrants, and recovered multiple firearms, police said.

The shooting unfolded Monday afternoon outside East High School. The two injured girls were both students at the school, while the slain boy was not, police said.

The motive for the shooting remains under investigation.

“Unfortunately, what happened here … is just another pointless tragedy in our community, people using firearms to settle their differences,” Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert said Monday.

The high school was immediately on lockdown Monday afternoon, but Des Moines Public School District tweeted students were being dismissed on time after police and the school district gave an all-clear.

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