After failing to convince the Republican Party that he should be the next President, Ron DeSantis is heading home to Florida, and queer Floridians are not welcoming him back.
Even though DeSantis’ presidential dreams are over (for now), he’s barely a quarter of the way through his second term leading the U.S.’ third-largest state, and his time in the office has been disastrous for his LGBTQ constituents. Now, Florida-based queer campaigners and families with trans children tell VICE News they fear DeSantis’ next moves, warning that “lives are at risk.”
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“Traveling to Florida is dangerous”
DeSantis leaned heavily into “anti-wokeness,” declaring Florida “where woke goes to die.” In practice, that meant cracking down on queer people, especially in schools, as well as on “critical race theory.” He went to war with the Disney Corporation after it embraced queer employees and theme park visitors, cut state funding for queer organizations and signed a record number of anti-LGBTQ laws, including making it a criminal offense for trans people to use restrooms that match their gender identity.
The governor signed legislation banning transgender women and girls from participating in school and college sports that match their gender identity, introduced criminal penalties for adults who assisted young people in accessing gender-affirming healthcare, and even blocked adult LGBTQ clinics from operating. That law alone was enough to make queer Floridians with the means to flee leave the state.
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But the governor’s most notorious endorsement, the Parental Rights in Education Bill—also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, was introduced two years ago and has wreaked havoc in schools, especially for queer teachers and students. The law criminalizes the “promotion” of queer lives in schools, such as school libraries stocking books encouraging LGBTQ acceptance. Last year, even after DeSantis faced international backlash – including a UN expert saying he was “deeply alarmed” – the governor expanded the law to include older students too.
It was this hostility which led one of the U.S.’s leading LGBTQ organizations, the Human Rights Campaign, to declare Florida “unsafe and unwelcoming” for queer people last year.
“We don’t want him back here”
Mila is a 14 year old trans girl who lives in a small town in Florida. She came out a few years ago and was accepted by her family, friends, and school staff, but now, she says her life has been “turned upside down.” Mila believes DeSantis is attempting to “stop” her and others from being trans.
“Can he just go away now? We don’t want him back here,” she told VICE News this week, laughing, before she got serious. “He’s made my life so hard, and for what? I keep to myself. I’ve done nothing to nobody. I’m trying to be me.”
Mila’s mother, who requested anonymity as she’s scared of a backlash for speaking out against DeSantis—, said she respects democracy, but “it’s hard to see my baby attacked all the time.” Mila’s extended family voted for DeSantis when he ran for reelection in 2022.
“Now he’s banned my daughter’s school from using her chosen pronouns, she can’t do sports, she can’t get transitioning help. If I give Mila the puberty blockers she wants, I could be reported and she’d be taken away from me. Ain’t that crazy?”
“The amount of damage Ron DeSantis has done as governor, the number of people he’s hurt, the communities he’s shredded, the queer lives he’s upended, it’s hard to put it into perspective,” said Brandon Wolf, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign.
Wolf, who is a survivor of Florida’s Pulse nightclub attack added: “The more America saw of Ron DeSantis, the more they were repulsed by him. That just goes to show that the vast majority of American people are good, kind people.”
DeSantis is 45 years old, which is young by national political standards, and there is every likelihood this wasn’t his last run at the White House. Asked if he’s worried about what could happen next, Wolf quickly replied “of course.”
“It’s scary to think how cruel and vindictive DeSantis will be when he gets back to Florida, just to punish his constituents for his own political failings,” Wolf said.
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