Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) quit the presidential primary after boasting about demonizing the LGBTQ+ community and opposing “woke” diversity efforts. Now, like DeSantis’ failed campaign, his efforts against LGBTQ+ people are failing.
21 of the nation’s most harsh bills suggested this year have been rejected after the Florida legislature ended for the session. Only one bill that targeted the queer community was approved.
Laws that would have widened the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law from the classroom to the workplace failed, as did another that would have forbidden Pride flags from schools and government buildings. Another bill would have mandated transgender people’s driver’s licenses to display their sex assigned at birth. A fourth would have made it “defamation” to label someone as homophobic or transphobic.
The only bill that passed this year prevents teachers from receiving education on diversity topics and prohibits “teaching identity politics.”
Enacted into law by DeSantis (R) in 2022, the “Don’t Say Gay” law initially barred classroom instruction on sexuality and gender identity in grades K–3 but was expanded to prohibit instruction on those topics in all grades. A settlement disclosed yesterday clears up unclear language in the law that is similar to the language in the one passed this year.
The law led to DeSantis’s campaign against the LGBTQ+ community and “woke” businesses, including his well-known ongoing conflict with Disney.
Last week, a federal appeals court ruled unanimously that Florida cannot enforce its new “Stop WOKE Act.” One of Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ (R) most hyped laws, it prevents businesses from mandating employees to attend mandatory diversity and inclusion training.
During his failed presidential bid, DeSantis hyped the “Stop WOKE Act” on the campaign trail.
“Despite years of relentless attacks and degrading language, LGBTQ+ people and our allies have never given up the fight for Florida. And we are shifting the momentum,” Human Rights Campaign spokesperson Geoff Wetrosky said. “The fight to free Florida from the grip of Governor DeSantis’ devastating and extreme agenda of government censorship and intrusion into people’s lives is far from over. And the devastation he and his allies have caused will last long after these politicians are gone. But the tide is turning. Perhaps the anti-LGBTQ+ fever in Tallahassee is beginning to break. The people will prevail.”
