Pride time
National Pride Month began this week, and Democrats in Florida didn’t miss the opportunity to express support for the LGBTQ community.
Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Díaz called Pride Month a time to celebrate diversity and progress.
“Fifty-three years after the Stonewall Riots began a new era in the fight for civil rights, the LGBTQI+ community has made great strides to achieve equality and fairness,” Díaz said in a news release.
Top Democratic officials also took a moment Wednesday, the start of Pride Month, to criticize Gov. Ron DeSantis and recent policies such as the Parental Rights in Education law, which critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate who hopes to face off against DeSantis in November, in her own news release said the Republican-led Legislature spent the 2022 Session attacking progress.
“This Legislative Session, we saw an unrelenting attack on the rights and dignity of queer Floridians,” Fried said. “From passing the hateful, discriminatory, and unconstitutional ‘Don’t Say Gay’ and ‘Stop WOKE’ bills to the Governor’s taxpayer-funded communications office perpetrating homophobic conspiracy theories that gay members of the Legislature are ‘groomers,’ it’s so important that we come together this month to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and defend their rights. Such hate and discrimination have no place in the Sunshine State, and we will never stop fighting for equality and freedom.”
However, Democrats’ attacks weren’t limited to Wednesday. The following day, the DeSantis administration moved to exclude gender affirming health care from Medicaid coverage and doubled down on its opposition to providing gender affirming care to children. Then when it came to the budget, DeSantis vetoed support for housing for LGBTQ youth who are at risk of being homeless.
U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate, criticized DeSantis for the actions regarding gender affirming care.
“Today’s report is yet another painful example of our authoritarian bully governor abusing his power and inserting himself into your doctor’s office if he doesn’t like you, doesn’t agree with you, or doesn’t understand you. Free state, indeed,” Crist said in a news release.
In turn, Republican officials resisted displays of LGBTQ support from Democrats and companies. DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw tweeted multiple critiques of sports teams, companies and institutions — including the U.S. Marine Corps and NASCAR — that made social media posts recognizing the LGBTQ community.
“It’s so weird. I don’t think most gay people demand corporations to put pride flags on everything. What they demanded was to be treated equally under the law, which is completely justified. But now that’s the case, this pandering is extremely cringe,” Pushaw tweeted.
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Coming up, the usual assortment of news, intel, and observations from the week that was in Florida’s capital city by Peter Schorsch, Drew Wilson, Renzo Downey, Christine Jordan Sexton and the staff of Florida Politics.
But first …
Take 5
The “Takeaway 5” — the Top 5 stories from the week that was:
Gov. DeSantis signs budget, vetoes $3.1B — DeSantis vetoed $3.1 billion in spending Thursday as he signed the 2023 fiscal year budget, which still leaves $109.9 billion in place, with increases in nearly every facet of the budget. Federal COVID-19 recovery funds, a swiftly rebounding economy and inflation that has boosted the cost of goods — and therefore sales taxes — helped swell the state’s coffers. That led lawmakers, prodded by DeSantis, to give raises to teachers, prison guards and law enforcement officers. The whopping $3.1 billion veto list includes the $1 billion fund the Legislature set up to pay for additional costs state agencies incur next year due to inflation.
SCOFLA won’t touch congressional map before Midterms — The court announced on Thursday it has denied a request for a new hearing on redistricting. That means the final voice on the matter before the 2022 elections will be Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal, which last month stayed a circuit court decision to replace the map. That means the map designed and signed by DeSantis will govern the 2022 elections. A lawsuit alleging the map violates the Fair Districts amendment to Florida’s Constitution by diminishing the ability of Black constituents to elect a Representative of their choice remains ongoing, but any impact will likely have to wait for a full trial to unfold, something that could take years.
DeSantis administration targets LGBTQ issues — Thursday also marked a major day for the DeSantis administration regarding LGBTQ issues. The administration announced it would push a new policy to specifically exclude gender affirming health care from Medicaid coverage. Medicaid Director Tom Wallace issued a report concluding that the gender affirming health care was experimental, a label that precludes it from being a Medicaid covered service. If successful, Florida will join eight other states that have banned Medicaid coverage of gender affirming health care. Moreover, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo sent a letter to members of the Florida Board of Medicine reiterating his recommendations against providing gender affirming care for children. DeSantis also vetoed $500,000 for the Zebra Coalition, which provides housing to LGBTQ youth who are at risk of being homeless.
Abortion rights groups challenge new ban — Abortion rights groups on Wednesday filed a suit to halt Florida’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, which is set to take effect in a month. The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed the lawsuit in Florida’s 2nd Judicial Circuit on behalf of Planned Parenthood affiliates, other women’s health centers and other abortion rights advocates. The law contains no exceptions for rape or incest, but does provide an exception if it is necessary to save a pregnant person’s life. “This law blatantly rejects Floridians’ need for essential abortion care and their strong support for the right to get an abortion,” ACLU of Florida Legal Director Daniel Tilley said in a news release.
Special Olympics International vaccine mandate lifted after DeSantis push — Special Olympics International will no longer require participants in the USA Games to be vaccinated against COVID-19, DeSantis announced Friday. The news comes two days before the scheduled beginning of the eight-day event in Orlando. DeSantis said his administration has been fighting Special Olympics International for six months. The state threatened the organization with a $27.5 million fine if it imposed the requirement, which DeSantis said violated a ban on vaccine passports signed last year. “We’ve never seen something wielded like this vaccine to try to marginalize disfavored people to try to deny people full freedom and full rights,” he said. “We don’t want to fight. We want to play,” Special Olympics International wrote in a release.
Part of history
Who’s ready to be a part of history?
DeSantis is taking names of people who want to lead the rebirth of the Florida State Guard. On the eve of hurricane season, DeSantis’ office raised the storm signal flag, calling for applicants for Director of the State Guard.
The State Guard was founded as a World War II-era volunteer force but has been defunct since the 1940s. After DeSantis announced in December that he wanted a dedicated emergency force that doesn’t answer to the federal government, the Legislature reauthorized it in the coming fiscal year’s budget at $10 million.
“If you love the state of Florida, have a desire to help your community, and have skills beneficial to protect the state from a disaster, we encourage you to apply to join the FLSG,” according to a news release.
Based in St. Augustine, the position will be part-time and pay a $400 to $500 stipend per day. In addition to working as a team and meeting physical, tactical and scheduling requirements, the Governor’s Office asks that applicants be “ready to be a part of history.”
The Governor’s Office says the ideal candidate has experience in military-style operations, emergency management, leadership and problem-solving.
Unlike the Florida National Guard, the State Guard would answer solely to the Governor without federal deployments, federal missions or federal funding. That means the State Guard won’t be subject to the National Guard’s vaccination requirement.
“If we had our own state guard that didn’t report to the Feds and was not obligated to follow those mandates in the first place, then these people wouldn’t even have to worry about getting kicked out,” DeSantis said Thursday.
Republished with permission [/vc_message]
