‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill is just the beginning of Florida GOP’s cruelty to LGBTQ kids

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2/12/22

Florida Republican lawmakers have declared war on LGBTQ children — all in the name of freedom and “parental rights.” Aka, the rights of parents whose views of sex and sexuality are stuck with the GOP in the 1950s. Lawmakers don’t want to look bigoted and discriminatory, so they will attempt to put lipstick on this pig — because who’s against rights and freedom? — to hide the cruelty behind a slew of anti-LGBTQ legislation introduced this year. Last year, in the midst of a global pandemic that exposed severe inefficiencies in the state’s unemployment benefits system, lawmakers treated transgender athletes as the real threat to Florida and banned them from women’s sports. This year’s list begins with the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill to ban districts from encouraging conversations about sexuality or gender identity in primary schools. The GOP-led Legislature also is going after sex education and gender-affirming medical care — and, to top it off — lawmakers want elementary schools to post online the book titles available in their libraries. While there’s nothing wrong with transparency, the latter appears intended to fuel the recent push by some parents and conservative groups to ban books related to sexuality and racism, the GOP’s other obsession these days (lawmakers also want to ban classroom discussions about race that make white people feel uncomfortable). LGBTQ and Black Floridians have become pawns in the Republican strategy to galvanize mostly white voters around divisive social issues. It worked in the Virginia gubernatorial election, where Glenn Youngkin won thanks in part to his “parental choice” appeal to suburban parents. Unfortunately, parental choice in the GOP playbook seems to matter mostly when it applies to white conservative parents.

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