Gen Z activist Zander Moricz is fighting for queer youth – and he’s not giving up anytime soon
Queer activist Zander Moricz is not giving up on Florida anytime soon.
“You give me the ick.” It was a simple phrase emblazoned on a sweatshirt, recognizable to any chronically online Gen Z-er plugged into social media. But there was no mistaking the maxim for a meme in December 2023, when queer activist Zander Moricz bore it while speaking at a Sarasota County School Board Meeting.
In a video that’s since been viewed millions of times, Moricz addressed board member Bridget Ziegler with composure and passion. (Not a total surprise considering he was his high school’s first gay senior class president and “the youngest plaintiff in a lawsuit” against Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill.)
Ziegler, who co-founded conservative group Moms for Liberty as a means of pushing anti-LGBTQ+ policies in schools, had come under fire for having a threesome with her husband –– the head of the Florida Republican Party –– and another woman. All while pushing “family values.” Nevertheless, Moricz, a then-rising sophomore at Harvard, refused to stoop to the level of a woman who banned books, targeted queer and trans children, and bullied him online.
Oh my God. A student just called out a Moms for Liberty founder and school board member after it was revealed she had a threesome while slandering LGBTQ people for “sexual immorality.” pic.twitter.com/VWsgvYLDuG— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) December 17, 2023
As he explained to the board, “an elected official using our money to harm our students and our teachers” should matter more than her sexual proclivities. “You do not deserve to be removed [from the school board] for having a threesome,” he said. “That defeats the lesson we’ve been trying to teach you, which is that a politician’s job is to serve their community, not to police personal lives … You deserve to be fired from your job because you are terrible at your job.”
Despite countless calls for Ziegler to resign, she has yet to step down. Still, the internet en masse –– including a vulnerable queer community that felt powerless against Florida lawmakers –– was vindicated. And they had Moricz to thank.
That being said, Zander’s activism started long before that momentous board meeting. As a student at Pine View High School in the Sarasota County district, he organized walkouts in protest of the then-pending “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.
Most notably, he brought national attention to his cause with a speech at his 2022 high school graduation. After admin threatened to cut his mic at the mention of politics or queerness, he wielded the power of metaphor to share a powerful message. All whilst skirting the ridiculous guidelines.
“I must discuss a very public part of my identity,” Moricz told the audience. “This characteristic has probably become the first thing you think of when you think of me as a human being.” Then, after theatrically removing his graduation cap, he quipped: “I have curly hair.”
Although he tried “desperately to straighten” his luscious locks, he explained that “the daily damage of trying to fix [himself] became too much to endure.” Instead, he found freedom in embracing his identity.
Considering his knack for creating a viral moment (and making a damn point), it’s understandable why Moricz was compelled to take a gap year from college to focus on protecting Florida’s LGBTQ+ youth.
As the current executive director for nonprofit Social Equity Through Education Alliance (SEE), he helps lead a movement of local and national youth organizers in holding politicians and schools accountable.
“Activism has always felt like a knee-jerk reaction,” he told the Harvard Political Review. “It has never occurred to me that I will not die an activist. It has never occurred to me that doing this work will not be my life’s path forever.”
At a time when people are settling for social media “slacktivism” while overwhelming themselves with information, Moricz hopes to inspires real change by starting with a narrow vision: the state he was raised in.
“People think that the most valuable thing they can do is stay aware: but in reality, it’s not that helpful if someone in Tampa, Florida knows everything that’s going on with someone in San Francisco, California,” he told our sister site Into.
“People need to redirect their energies and attention to their local communities … They’re going to see all of the really harmful detrimental generational impacts of this legislation. And if they focus their energies locally, they’re going to be able to do something more impactful about it.”
So, he’s not giving up on Florida (or his calls for Ziegler to resign) anytime soon. And in the meantime, he’s making us feel courageous enough to say “You give me the ick.”
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