Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law; the legislation apparently states that schools “may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.” These provisions would seemingly restrict numerous children from learning about or having classroom discussions on a fundamental facet of life. What about children with non-heterosexual parents? What about young people of any grade covered by the legislation who may have struggles related to their sexual orientation or gender identity? Disney — Florida’s largest private employer — has spoken out against the legislation, to which DeSantis responded with familiarly self-confident anger. Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan criticized DeSantis on CNN.
It hasn’t gotten much attention but some 2024 news unfolded in DC last night: @GovChrisSununu, a Republican, called Trump “(expletive) crazy” in humorous but pointed remarks at the Gridiron dinner. And he cast Trump as oblivious and poll-obsessed when recalling their past chats.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) April 3, 2022
Specifically, DeSantis raised the prospect of Disney losing its special status under Florida law that allows it to essentially govern the area around its Orlando-adjacent theme park itself. As he ranted: “Disney has alienated a lot of people now. And so the political influence they’re used to wielding, I think has dissipated. And so the question is, why would you want to have special privileges in the law at all? And I don’t think… we should.” Hogan remarked as follows when asked about the law and DeSantis’s conflict with Disney:
‘I didn’t really actually see the details of the legislation, but the whole thing seems like just a crazy fight… DeSantis is always talking about, [that] he was not demanding that businesses do things, but he was telling the cruise lines what they had to do, he was telling local schools what they had to do. Mandating. And now he wants to criticize Disney for expressing how they feel about that bill. I mean, they have every right to. We have a thing called freedom of speech. They can come out and say what they think. I think the bill was kind of absurd and not something that would have happened in our state.’
Check out Hogan’s remarks below:
Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) calls out the basic hypocrisy of Ron DeSantis, "He was not demanding businesses do things but he was telling the cruise lines what they had to do, mandating, and now wants to criticize Disney for how they feel about the bill." pic.twitter.com/9yXwoEeko6
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) April 3, 2022
Disney has indicted that its ambition is to see the “Don’t Say Gay” law overturned. Notably DeSantis recently sustained a significant court setback with a ruling from a federal judge that key portions of an elections bill he signed into law were unconstitutional. The provisions affected by the ruling, which demanded the rules not be enforced, include restrictions on both the usage of drop boxes for mail-in ballots and non-governmental organizations conducting voter outreach work. Plaintiffs argued the law “runs roughshod over the right to vote, unnecessarily making voting harder for all eligible Floridians, unduly burdening disabled voters, and intentionally targeting minority voters — all to improve the electoral prospects of the party in power,” per the federal judge’s summary. “Having reviewed all the evidence, this Court finds that, for the most part, Plaintiffs are right,” the judge, Mark Walker, added.
Some LGBTQ educators in Florida are leaving the profession after the enactment of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. https://t.co/iSnDtxaDN8
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 1, 2022
