Florida’s War Against Its Citizens
The 2022 Florida legislature went to extremes to make sure LGBTQ identity, Black history, and a woman’s right to choose are on track to disappear in the Sunshine State. The far right’s crusade to exclude unwanted realities was bolstered by bills that seek to control the expression of identity in the classroom, put a lock and key on American history, limit women’s control of their bodies and threaten voters.
Following the lead of Texas and Mississippi, Florida House Bill 5 severely curtails the right to abortion after15 weeks, clearly infringing on Roe v. Wade’s protection of privacy and choice. The anti-abortion movement’s battle to restrict women’s rights has now become a frenzy with the leak of a Supreme Court draft document that suggests Roe will soon be declared unconstitutional. Even if the 1973 decision stands, the far right will continue their state by state attempts to erode choice (links to bills follow the article).
Florida is also targeting critical race theory, as are several other states. In reality a complex body of scholarship, CRT has come to stand for a few ideas that, according to the right, dominate teaching about race. The authors of House Bill 7 claim to be concerned that the mere mention of prejudice and slavery could result in “guilt, anguish or . . . distress” for students. ‘Age-appropriate’ discussion is mandated, giving administrators a way to avoid race and history altogether, and beleaguered teachers a good reason to drop a radioactive subject for fear of parental lawsuits.
Update, 5/22/22: The University of Florida has announced that HB 7, the ‘Stop WOKE Act’, will go into effect at UF on August 1. According to a May 16 article in the Alligator, “UF will face financial penalties” for violations. President Kent Fuchs has circulated a slide presentation to faculty and staff on “how to remain within the law’s requirements and guidelines.” The slides enumerate basic and obvious principles of objectivity. The question remains as to how ‘violations’ will be reported and how interpretation is done.
House Bill 1557 has been notorious for months as the ‘don’t say gay bill’. One of its provisions prohibits gender instruction through third grade, which sounds anodyne enough. The ‘age-appropriate’ qualifier appears again, however, potentially quashing any talk of sex and gender orientation at all. By limiting the expression and reality of alternative identities, the Florida legislature is attempting to define anything but standard binary heterosexuality out of the classroom and out of existence.
1557 also mandates that parents be informed about a student’s “mental, emotional, or physical health.” Rather than encouraging peer discussion and mediation concerning difficult issues of gender and sexuality, this provision permits districts to brutally out students in what might be complicated or dangerous conditions.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis and company have also been known to take their agenda to the personal level. During a March 2 press conference, the Governor laid into high school students for masking and told them to “stop with this Covid theater.” Christine Pushaw, DeSantis’ spokeswoman, tweeted that “propaganda” about the virus had “terrified and manipulated young people” when it was clearly the Governor who was doing the terrifying.
Pushaw has also sought to intimidate opponents of the Governor’s legislation. In another March tweet, she insisted that House Bill 1557 is not about being gay, but is “anti-grooming.” Pushaw claims that those who seek to educate young people about gender identity are, in reality, ‘grooming’ them and deliberately setting them up for abuse.
If bullying on top of legally enshrined threats to non-conforming students, campaigns to erode women’s rights and erase Black history from the classroom aren’t enough, consider Senate Bill 524. The bill establishes a 25 person Office of Election Crimes to investigate voter fraud. Complaints about this virtually non-existent practice can be made anonymously, which means that election season in the Sunshine State will now include informers who can’t be traced.
Florida, like several other states on the far right, is seeking to control and “constrain what we can and cannot talk about . . . can and cannot be” as Chase Strangio of the ACLU said in a recent interview. Governor DeSantis and his willing band of legislators long for a future that resembles their imagined past, a time when discussions about racism or sex and gender orientation were unthinkable, when women stayed home in obedience and voting was restricted to white male property owners.
That time has passed, let them know:
Contacts for Florida Senators, Representatives and the Governor
The Governor of Florida: GovernorRon.Desantis@eog.myflorida.com
Florida Senate: https://www.flsenate.gov/Senators
Florida House of Representatives: https://www.myfloridahouse.gov
Links to bill summaries; links to full-text pdfs are below the summaries
Florida House Bill 5 Fetal and Infant Mortality; abortion legislation
Florida House Bill 7 Individual Freedom; critical race theory
Florida House Bill 1557 Parental Rights in Education; “don’t say gay”
Florida Senate Bill 524 Election Administration; voter fraud
