Florida: “One mother complained that the poem read by Amanda Gorman at Joe Biden’s inauguration “The Hill We Climb” lacked educational value, and contained indirect hate messages and boom, it was removed from the lower grades.”
IT’S DEMORALIZING, IT’S DEPRESSING, IT’S DESANTIS
The news this month is filled with unpleasant developments from around the country, but particularly in Florida, where Governor DeSantis signed four bills in a single day; one to ban the use of correct gender pronouns in schools, another to prohibit minors from attending vaguely defined adult performances, code for drag shows, a third to outlaw transition health care for people under 21, and a fourth to defund diversity and equity programs at state colleges. This comes, of course, in a state where the governor and his buddies in the legislature have already banned discussion of sexual orientation and gender throughout high school, expanding a law that silenced these topics in elementary school.
His 2022 “Stop Woke Act,” as you may recall, put an end to diversity training in public schools and businesses, outlawing the type of instruction that suggest individuals share responsibility for the various dark periods of our history by virtue of their race, sex or national origin. Honestly, I am not sure exactly how “Stop Woke” is phrased, but then again, I’m not inclined to look up the text. It’s bad enough that we all have to rehash the DeSantis track record.
NOT DONE YET
Did you think we were finished with Florida? Hell no! let’s not forget the book bans, the regulations that effectively allow a handful of parents to take books off the library shelves subject to a review by some panel. The panel can’t be too discerning however, because just the other day, one mother complained about the poem read by Amanda Gorman at Joe Biden’s inauguration. Surely you remember that inspirational moment, her poise, her transcendent words, her hope for the future and her optimistic view of America?
Yet a single Mama Karen was allowed to pipe up and suggest that “The Hill We Climb” lacked educational value, and contained indirect hate messages and boom, it was removed from the lower grades, although the panel generously said it could stay at the high school level. Gorman wrote that she was “gutted,” after hearing about the inexplicable censorship, adding that the decision robbed children “of the chance to find their voices in literature” and violated “their right to free thought and free speech.”
This is Ron DeSantis’s Florida, the place where “woke goes to die” in his words, along with civil liberties, the Constitution, and the principles Americans have fought wars to defend. Already, Tampa Pride has cancelled its annual celebration, while Wilton Manors, that famously gay town outside of Ft. Lauderdale, has decided not to allow drag performances during its pride festival.
Three families have sued the state in federal court, contesting the ban on transgender health care, while a publisher has sued come of the book burning aficionados in the Pensacola area. A Hernando County teacher north of Tampa was under investigation for showing an animated Disney movie called “Strange World” to her fifth graders because it has a gay character. The teacher, Jenna Barbee, quit her job over the matter. And in Orlando, Hamburger Mary’s, a restaurant that hosted drag events, is suing the state in federal court over the ambiguous language in the new law against adult entertainment.
I’m sure there are other people fighting back. But it’s all so sickening and so exhausting.
BE AFRAID, BE MODERATELY AFRAID
That’s just one state down, folks. We have many more. Bans on drag shows have also passed in Tennessee and Montana, while a fight over a bill against drag in the Texas legislature was enough for an insurance company to refuse to cover one of only two remaining lesbian bars in the entire gargantuan state. It hasn’t even passed (yet) but nonetheless, Julie Mabry, owner of Houston’s Pearl Bar, told the local TV newscasters that the underwriters “outright denied us because we host drag shows.” Think about that! I guess a dozen or more other states have put drag performances on their anti-GLBT agendas as well.
Several states are considering defining “sex” by law as “male and female” determined at birth and unchanging until death. Montana has already done so, and I lack the energy to figure out what other states might have gone along on the ride for that one. (Tennessee, North Dakota, and Kansas—where the legislature overrode the governor’s veto to get it through.)
And of course we have a number of bans on transgender health care, trans women in sports, bathroom bills and the like. Over the last year, the Department of Homeland Security announced that threats of violence against the gay and trans community from domestic terror types have been rising and intensifying. In a report distributed to government and law enforcement agencies May 11, the Department warned about actions “linked to drag-themed events, gender-affirming care, and LGBTQIA+ curricula in schools.”
Hmmm. How about a Pride parade? Could that be a target. Get out your rainbow gear everyone and stop complaining about how our late June events have turned into commercialized parties compared to the civil rights showdowns of yesteryear. Seems as if we might be heading back to those days after all.
Hope you’re happy. I preferred the superficial festive atmosphere and the optimistic feeling that we’re making progress; pre-Covid, pre-Trump.
WHO SOLD YOU THAT RAINBOW HAT? WAS IT SATAN?
I have more depressing GLBT news, but I think we’ve had enough for one column. I figured you’ve already read all you need to know about the Dodgers disinviting and then re-inviting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, so I won’t get into that.
But how about Target? The retailers usually sell a bunch of Pride paraphernalia this time of year, but this month, they drew some complaints from the usual suspects. In response, Target removed some of rainbow gear, but as I understand it, they only removed some products that were sold under the label of a company that has some tie to Satan. They’re Satanists or something. It might be a joke. I don’t really care, as Melania Trump would say, as long as Target didn’t stop selling the bulk of their GLBT collection.
I guess it’s time for us to update our collection of multicolored kitsch in order to look our tacky best for the season. We must meet the terrorists in full gay regalia!
