The Culture War Moves On
We are over half way through the legislative session and the following culture war bills favored by the radical right and Governor DeSantis have been pushed through the Florida House and are headed to the senate. By the time you read this, some may have already been passed by the senate and signed into law by Governor DeSantis.
HB 5 Preventing Infant Mortality – This one which was described in our last legislative update is, in spite of its title, really about banning abortion after fifteen weeks with no exception for rape or incest. (See Legislative Update 1/29/22 in Blog)
HB 7 Individual Freedom – Also cynically called the Stop W.O.K.E. (Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees) act by Governor DeSantis, it bans a whole list of concepts that are (supposedly) part of Critical Race Theory that (supposedly) is being taught in schools, colleges and employee diversity training programs. One of those concepts is that “An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin.” It will be interesting to see how this part is enforced if the bill doesn’t get declared unconstitutional on first amendment grounds.
HB 1467 K-12 Education – This bill is just another example of the attack on public education that the radical right has been making for years. It creates term limits for school board members and sets up a whole lot of hoops school personnel will have to jump through, including creating methods of objection in the selection of educational materials such as textbooks and library books. As if schools don’t have enough bureaucratic red tape to deal with. This is an obvious reaction to the recent right-wing attacks on school library books that deal with racial and LGBTQ issues.
HB 1557 Parental Rights in Education – Otherwise known as the Don’t Say Gay bill, this one prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade or “in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards”. It also puts LGBTQ students in danger by requiring parental notification even if they object.
Both of our Republican house members, Scott Plakon and David Smith voted YES on all four bills. Interestingly, seven Republicans in other counties crossed party lines and voted NO on the Don’t Say Gay bill. Of course, or own Joy Goff Marcell voted NO on each one.
Since both the House and Senate are controlled by the Republican party, which is bent on pursuing this radical right-wing agenda, there is little that can be done to stop bills like this. The best way to ensure we don’t get more of the same next year is to elect more Democrats to the legislature. If you are interested in running for either the House or Senate this year please contact campaign@semdems.com .
Since the bills will get voted on in the senate soon, the following information may be used to contact Senator Jason Brodeur with your opinion: phone - (850) 487-5009, email - brodeur.jason@flsenate.gov .
Illustration: Dom McKenzie/The Observer