Florida Governor Ron Desantis wants your children to stay ignorant. Since beginning his governorship in 2019, Desantis has passed a string of legislation restricting what is allowed to be taught in schools. The most recent of these, dubbed the 'Don't Say Gay' bill, seeks to silence the LGBTQ community and serves as the latest instance of the Republican party's open flirtation with fascism. Welcome to Orwell's nightmare, otherwise known as present-day Florida.
The bill, recently signed into law, has been surrounded by a flurry of media coverage from both sides of the isle; but what does it actually say? The exact verbiage reads, “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.” The wording is left intentionally vague and open to legal interpretation, but one thing is abundantly clear: the government must protect children from the existence of gender non-conformity and same-sex attraction.
This idea that queerness is not an appropriate topic for children reinforces the long-peddled notion that the LGBTQ community is inherently depraved, engaging in disturbing behavior not safe for young and impressionable minds. Indeed, many conservative religious organizations vehemently believe this narrative, but it does not hold up to any real scrutiny. The fact remains that a male teacher talking about his husband is no more salacious than a female teacher talking about hers, yet the former would be banned by law and the latter would be considered totally benign.
Desantis claims to be looking out for the safety of young people, but make no mistake, this is a shrewd political strategy. It is in his best interest to keep children in the dark about the LGBTQ community: his worst nightmare is allowing the younger generations to find out that it consists of normal people who simply want to live out their lives in peace. The real threat is finding out that there is no threat: he depends on his constituents' blindness to keep the outrage going.
From day one of his political career, Desantis has stoked the flames of intolerance and bigotry to bolster his standing with white nationalists and the evangelical right. The 'Don't Say Gay' bill is ripped from page one of the Republican Party's playbook of feeding fear of the 'other' by painting anyone who deviates from cisgender heteronormativity as a danger to the sanctity of the American way of life. The collective panic of his political base over the denigration of society keeps them active and voting for him and his cronies.
But even if the Florida governor genuinely believes the LGBTQ community capable of destroying the cultural fabric, he should not have the power to legislate them into silence. The First Amendment is designed to protect citizens from the government infringing on their right to express themselves. Strangely enough, Desantis claims to be a strong proponent of free speech. He positioned himself as a crusader for the cause with his Anti-woke Bill, which sought to protect Twitter users from bans due to terms of service violations. Ultimately, however, the bill was struck down for violating Twitter's first amendment rights. This instance demonstrates what many on the left have known all along: he doesn't really care about protecting the First Amendment, he just wants to amplify the voices he agrees with and censor everyone else.
If this is all seeming oddly familiar, that's because it is. Everyone pull up a chair, this is Authoritarianism 101. In Uberto Eco's seminal essay Ur-Fascism, he classifies a fascist as someone who, among other things, is invested in a cult of tradition, fears difference, appeals to social frustration, and believes that disagreement is treason. Sounds a lot like our buddy Desantis. His 'Don't Say Gay' law, with its appeals to traditional values and fear mongering about parents losing control, serves to reinforce and codify this worldview.
Since its proposal, Republicans have been trying to downplay this legislation, hiding behind its vague wording and pearl-clutching "think of the children" tone. But bills like these are how authoritarian regimes begin; they only grow bolder as time goes on. This past weekend, Desantis won a second term in a decisive victory against Democrat Charlie Crist, which many believe will be the springboard for his 2024 presidential run. Supporters of democracy across the political spectrum must wake up to the game he is playing right before our eyes. If not, we might be welcoming Big Brother Desantis as the next leader of the free world.
DeSantis uses a disturbing amount of political power to try to enforce values (just look at his whole war with Disney over "woke" content). It's really surprising to be that Republicans who claim to love American values aren't more disturbed by his obvious attempt to enforce values through his role as governor. It's a pretty common argument that issues around sex should be taught by parents and not through schools. I'm sympathetic to this idea...it makes sense to me that parents trust their own judgment more than that of the school they sent their kids to. However, I don't think that's enough to justify a governor enforcing what schools are allowed to teach. It's morally and even constitutionally questionable, and…
Over in California, it is crazy to think about this type of bill being passed. What I don’t understand about it is, how this bill is not in violation of the first amendment itself. While vague, the verbiage sounds a lot like censorship. Engel v. Vitale was a supreme court case that preserved the first amendment in public schools regarding religion and the recitation of religious prayer. I wonder if this law could be overturned too.