Ron DeSantis yells “Leave our kids alone!” at protestor holding Pride flag

At a recent campaign event in North Carolina, GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis celebrated along with the audience as a protestor holding a Pride flag was thrown out of the room.

Members of the anti-LGBTQ+ extremist group Moms for Liberty tried to tear the flag from the protestor’s hands before the group’s security detail escorted him out, according to Florida Politics. In the video of the incident, the protestor can be heard yelling something indiscernible while DeSantis speaks.

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As the protestor was being forced to leave, DeSantis shouted toward him, “We don’t want you indoctrinating our children. Leave our kids alone.” His comments were followed by raucous cheers and a standing ovation from the crowd.

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The current Florida governor has made his vitriolic feelings about the LGBTQ+ community extremely clear.

He has supported several anti-LGBTQ+ policies under the guise of “protecting children” from “sexualization,” and his ruthless campaign against LGBTQ+ youth has led more than half of LGBTQ+ parents to consider leaving Florida, according to a survey from the Williams Institute. In May, he wouldn’t even say whether or not he supports marriage equality, and his presidential campaign has promoted more than one viciously anti-LGBTQ+ ad to brag about DeSantis’s attacks on the community.

Before the protestor was kicked out, DeSantis had also been criticizing President Joe Biden for comments he made at the 2023 National and State Teachers of the Year celebration.

He quoted the teacher of the year, who said, “There’s no such thing as someone else’s child,” and then added his own comment, “Our nation’s children are all our children.”

The moment sent conservatives into a rage spiral, as the party has long touted a “parent’s rights platform” as an excuse to pass anti-LGBTQ+ policies. The party claims to believe that parents have the right to make decisions for their children, rather than the government – except when it comes to the rights of trans youth.

“Have you heard Biden? He will say when it comes to children, they’re not your children. They’re all of our children,” DeSantis said, adding that because he is the father of three young children he can say “they’re not his children.”

“But when he’s sitting here talking about all of our children, I have something to say to him. Why don’t you focus on spending more time with your granddaughter in Arkansas or at least acknowledge she exists before you worry about our children.”

DeSantis was referring to the young daughter of the president’s son, Hunter Biden. Hunter shares his daughter with Lunden Roberts, a woman he met while battling addiction and who he says he has no memory of being with. DNA tests have proven the four-year-old is in fact his daughter, and according to the New York Times, President Biden has not publicly acknowledged his seventh grandchild.

DeSantis’s campaign is thought by many to be dead on arrival. He has alienated many from his own party with his relentless focus on culture warring, and is currently far behind Donald Trump in the polls. According to RealClearPolitics, DeSantis is polling at 20.2%, compared to Trump’s 53.7%.