Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis chose a Christian school as his setting for signing bills on Wednesday that ban gender-affirming care for minors, restrict pronoun use in schools and force people to use the bathroom corresponding with their sex in some cases.
Wednesday also marked the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, an annual event held on May 17 that is meant to honour the fight for equality and the efforts to stamp out hate and discrimination against LGBTQ people worldwide.
DeSantis has made anti-LGBTQ legislation a large part of his agenda as he is expected to announce his presidential candidacy in the coming days. He has leaned heavily into cultural divides on race, sexual orientation and gender as he moves to win support from conservative voters who decide Republican primary elections.
He signed the bills in front of a cheering crowd at the Cambridge Christian School in Tampa.
The ceremony had a campaign-like feel, as opposed to when he signed measures on abortion and gun rights in private.
“It’s kind of sad that we even have some of these discussions,” DeSantis told the crowd as he stood behind a lectern with a sign that read “Let Kids Be Kids.”
“We never did this through all of human history until like, what, two weeks ago? Now this is something? They’re having third graders declare pronouns? We’re not doing the pronoun Olympics in Florida,” DeSantis said to applause.
Republic Rep. Randy Fine, who sponsored the ban on gender-affirming care for minors, invoked his religion to defend the state’s actions.
“God does not make mistakes with our children,” he said.
Democrats opposed the bills, and LGBTQ rallies were held at the Capitol during the session that ended two weeks ago, but Republicans have a super majority in both chambers and the bills easily moved through the legislative process.
LISTEN | Some travellers reconsider visiting Florida over anti-LGBTQ politics:
Mainstreet NS7:12Why some LGBTQ travelers may be having second thoughts on travelling to Florida
Earlier this month, Equality Florida released a travel advisory in which they warned of the risks posed to the health, safety, and freedom of LGBTQ people who may wish to travel to Florida in the wake of laws they say are harmful to the queer community. Alex Guye spoke with Adam Taylor, a travel advisor and agency owner in Dartmouth, about what he’s hearing from the queer community.
Florida school district sued over book censorship
Meanwhile, writers’ group PEN America and publisher Penguin Random House sued a Florida school district on Wednesday over its removal of books about race and LGBTQ identities.
The federal lawsuit alleges the Escambia County School District and its school board are violating the First Amendment through the removal of 10 books from library shelves.
The case does not name DeSantis as a defendant though the Republican governor has also championed policies that allow the censorship and challenging of books based on whether they are appropriate for children in schools, causing national uproar.
“Books have the capacity to change lives for the better, and students in particular deserve equitable access to a wide range of perspectives. Censorship, in the form of book bans like those enacted by Escambia County, are a direct threat to democracy and our Constitutional rights,” Nihar Malaviya, CEO of Penguin Random House, said in a statement.
Escambia County school officials did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The lawsuit says the removals stem from objections from one language arts teacher in the county, and in each case the school board voted to remove the books over recommendations from a district review committee that deemed them educationally suitable.
The teacher’s formal objections to the books appear to draw on materials compiled by a website that creates reports on books it deems ideologically unsuitable for children, according to the lawsuit. In one example cited in the lawsuit, the teacher admitted she had never heard of the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky but filed an objection form to the novel that contained specific excerpts and phrasing from the book ban website.
Among the other removed books are The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed and Lucky by Alice Sebold.
The lawsuit said more than 150 additional books are under review by the school board.
“In Escambia County, state censors are spiriting books off shelves in a deliberate attempt to suppress diverse voices. In a nation built on free speech, this cannot stand,” said Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America.
“The law demands that the Escambia County School District put removed or restricted books back on library shelves where they belong.”
WATCH | U.S. divided over legisltion affecting transgender youth:
Mar. 28, 2023 | Hundreds of bills targeting transgender people and their rights have been introduced in the United States. Andrew Chang is joined by an activist tracking it all. Then, a mom and her trans son explain why they won’t leave their state.
More Stories
Fair share: the right office solution can take finding the right partner
Ontario faces crew shortages, aircraft issues in fight against wildfires | Globalnews.ca
Refugee attends open house at Downtown Eastside affordable housing facility – BC | Globalnews.ca