What’s it like to have a legislature that actively works to solve your state’s problems? I have no fucking idea because I live in Florida. Most people here breathe a sigh of relief when our lawmakers finish their legislative session since they do nothing but their damndest to make this state an authoritarian, bigoted shithole. After spending time making it even harder to vote or learn about history, the legislature has been quickly moving through a bill that prevents classroom discussions on sexual orientation. If a teacher breaks this, adults can sue the teacher and the school, even if the adults don’t have kids in the school.
It’s called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. That’s right, in Florida, the same GOP meth lab that brought you the Run Over Protestors Law, Stand Your Ground, and the Scarlet Letter Law—when women were forced to list their sexual partners in the newspaper before adoption could be used as an option. This. Fucking. State.
Without a hint of irony coming from the same people ranting about “cancel culture,” this legislative session is jam-packed with bills to ban books about race and the Holocaust, ban any lesson plan that makes “white people feel discomfort,” and now, preventing discussions that even mention LGBTQ people exist. Gay children are already targeted for bullying and violence, and now our governor and his lackeys want to try to even deny their existence—and punish teachers for possibly trying to teach some damn empathy.
Coincidentally, Florida is suffering from a massive teacher shortage. Go fucking figure. On top of low pay, mask bans, and the ability of anyone to sue you directly for just doing your damn job, now teachers are going to have to endure classrooms with cameras and microphones. (Yes, that is really a thing that is happening.) That’s what made this ad by Equality Florida hit home:
Few pay attention to what our legislature is doing, and only get angry after the fact.
You know who I’m pissed at? The goddamned corporations who do business in this state. Where the fuck is Disney? Where the hell is Darden (aka Red Lobster and Olive Garden)? Where the shit is Publix? (Oh, donating to DeSantis for vaccine distribution deals? Well fuck me, then.)
You can forget our gerrymandered legislators giving a crap about complaints from constituents, who have been flooding the phone lines of lawmakers saying the word “gay” and hanging up. Those conservative monsters don’t care, even if the suicide rate among gay and trans kids is four times higher than it is for straight kids—and soon they won’t even have a teacher they can confide in. I know dead kids don’t move the needle much here. Hell, conservatives mocked the Parkland kids on Fox News and one of the women who taunted David Hogg is now a QAnon congresswoman. But you know what does move the needle? Money.
Corporations, folks. They write checks. They make things move here. In fact, they are the ONLY entities the GOP listens to. Instead of calling lawmakers, people need to bombard the top Florida companies and tell them we are boycotting them unless they speak out against this atrocity. Or, how about contacting any company thinking of doing business here in Florida, holding a convention here, or having a sporting event? Let them know there are dozens of other states where you are still allowed to say the word “gay” in school. Do business there, not here.
Don’t think this kind of corporate activism will work? Ask Mike Pence. When he was governor of Indiana, his state got bit in the ass over a law that allowed legal discrimination against gays and lesbians. Indiana lost BILLIONS over something that the overwhelming majority of citizens didn’t even want. The law was adjusted, and Pence caved—not because it was the right thing to do, but because he suffered for it. DeSantis wants to be president someday. Maybe make a little fucking noise?
Most Floridians are decent people, but are extremely apathetic, which is why we have the lawmakers we do. Yet Floridians sure as hell understand when the GOP’s bigoted decisions impact them personally, and lawmakers are sensitive to that as well. Yet right now I don’t see the groundswell for this kind of action as these awful bills sail through the legislature. My prediction is it will happen AFTER the fact. Yet just this once, can we try to stop this madness BEFORE it becomes law?
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