Florida Sit-In Against "Stand Your Ground" Mark Wallheiser for The New York Times After the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee closed for the day, the Dream Defenders held open forum discussions in the hallway outside the governor's office. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The college and high school students arranged themselves in the colonial-style chairs and on the green carpet, a portrait of the state's Old Capitol building above them, as they exchanged stories about their lives and the travails of the "black and brown youth" in Florida. One young woman whose parents were both drug addicts spoke about how she had defied the odds; she will graduate from college next year. A young man mentioned that he was one of the few in his family who had not ended up in prison. Another talked about his years in and out of homeless shelters while he was growing up in Miami. Only a stone's throw away, beyond the two receptionists in front of them, behind an imposing white door, was the office of the person they hoped would hear them and respond with action: Florida's Republican governor, Rick Scott. On July 16, three days after George Zimmerman's acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the Dream Defenders, as they are called, streamed into the governor's suite to hold a sit-in. Encamped there since then, they are demanding changes to Florida's self-defense laws, specifically, the Stand Your Ground provision, and in the way minorities are treated in the state's schools and on the streets. They have vowed to stay until a special legislative session is called on their issues. Their goal is a long shot: the governor and the Republican-controlled Legislature strongly support the self-defense law, and polls have shown that many Floridians favor it. But the students are staying the course, encouraged that their mission has already gained some ground. "I've had it going through the normal routes because it doesn't work," said Ciara Taylor, 24, a Florida A&M University political science graduate who helped lobby lawmakers as a student and is now the Dream Defenders" political director. People tell us that certain things aren't possible, but they are coming through every day. We are proving them wrong every minute. So far, the Dream Defenders, which formed last year to fight for social change after Mr. Martin's death, have scored a few victories. The first was when Governor Scott, who initially ignored the protesters, agreed to sit down with them. The governor listened for more than an hour but did not agree to call a special session. The group persisted, growing larger and attracting the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, who angered the governor by calling Florida an "apartheid state"; the entertainer and social activist Harry Belafonte; and the rapper Talib Kweli. Most recently, Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford announced that he would ask a House subcommittee to conduct a hearing this fall on Stand Your Ground, an important first step, the students feel. "We have a plan, a plan to persevere," said Phillip Agnew, the leader of the Dream Defenders and the only one who is being paid. The Service Employees International Union is paying his small salary. But the students may have to persevere for a long time. Besides the stiff resistance from the governor and the Legislature, there is Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican who will spearhead the House subcommittee hearing and who said recently that he did not want to alter "one damn comma of Stand Your Ground." "I think you have protesters in the Capitol today who are protesting without a whole lot of knowledge about the fact patterns associated with Stand Your Ground," Mr. Gaetz said in an interview. They are protesting for the sake of protesting, and we shouldn't capitulate to that. Mr. Gaetz said he would ensure a "fair debate" on the issue and would work with Democrats to help them air their agenda. But he was critical of the protesters, saying that they were capitalizing on Mr. Martin's death to "begin their own movement." Do you really think that there would be this great push to repeal the Stand Your Ground law if Zimmerman had been convicted? Mr. Gaetz asked. His father, Senate President Don Gaetz, called the protesters cooperative and respectful. But last week he declined a request by the Senate Democratic leader to convene a select committee to review the law. Florida was the first state to pass a Stand Your Ground law. It did so in 2005, with the strong support of the National Rifle Association. The law permits people who fear serious injury or death to defend themselves, even if they have the opportunity to retreat and are in a public place.