As this year’s regular legislative session in Florida slowly approached its end, a group of activists gathered Wednesday for a protest at a Florida Capitol office for Ron DeSantis, the state’s Republican governor, from whom they demanded a meeting.
An advocacy organization called Dream Defenders was involved in the display of opposition to DeSantis’s extremism. Years prior, the same group was also involved in a longer show of opposition inside the Florida Capitol after Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager, was shot and killed, after which protesters sought reconsideration of Florida’s infamously lenient self-defense laws. Then-Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, met with activists but declined to take action the group sought.
This time around, those protesting at DeSantis’s Tallahassee office were expressing what was described as general opposition to policy moves undertaken recently by leading Republicans. “The Dream Defenders planned the event as part of a national protest called Freedom to Learn, but altered their event to address all of the issues facing Floridians, with hopes of not only getting a joint meeting with DeSantis but of painting a vision for an alternative to the country that extremist politicians like DeSantis are creating,” a press release from the organization itself said.
In Florida, there have been many serious concerns recently circulating, from the governor’s handling of education policy to an increasingly restrictive stance towards LGBTQ+ individuals. State authorities have approved an expansion of the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” rules to all grades in public schools, blocking classroom discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity, and legislators even okayed what’s sometimes known in shorthand as a bathroom bill. That measure blocks transgender individuals from using the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity, assuming facilities are split anyway. Schools and government buildings are among the venues where such restrictions apply. Earlier proposals would have extended the restrictions to private businesses, demanding that transgender individuals just trying to use the bathroom at a private business comply with state rules for how they do so beyond those applying to everyone.
On Wednesday, 14 protesters who participated in the demonstration inside DeSantis’s Florida office were eventually arrested and faced trespassing charges, according to reports. Police informed those present of their intention to make arrests if more time passed, but demonstrators were determined. Dream Defenders credited police targeting protesters to rule changes made specifically after the organization’s earlier demonstrations inside the Capitol with Scott in power. The updates specifically prohibited overnight stays there.
