GOP official calls people fleeing Ron DeSantis’s anti-LGBTQ+ Florida “perverted”

A new survey from the Williams Institute has found that droves of Democratic parents have considered leaving Florida since the passage of the Don’t Say Gay law, and the chair of the state’s GOP has a simple response: good riddance.

“Over 60 percent of voters support the actual language in the law, including 55 percent of Democrats,” GOP chair Christian Ziegler told the Washington Examiner. “With that said, if a Democrat voter is passionate and perverted enough to support the sexualization of kids during school in grades as early as kindergarten, then I would agree that Florida is probably not the best fit for them.”

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Karen Lauritzen said it has been the hardest year in her 20 years of teaching.

Republicans have used fearmongering of LGBTQ+ people as a major tactic in gaining power in the state (as well as nationally). In response to a downward trend in Democratic voter registration in Florida, Ziegler recently tweeted that “If the Florida Democrat Party wants to fix their registration woes, they should start by ending their vile support for the indoctrination, sexualization, and mutilation of our CHILDREN!”

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It’s not clear where Ziegler got the specific numbers he mentioned regarding support for the Don’t Say Gay bill, but a 2022 Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that 76% of Republicans support the Don’t Say Gay law, compared to 24% of Democrats who support it, another 24% saying they weren’t sure, and 52% opposing it. Yahoo News pointed out that the vague language of the legislation likely contributed to these numbers, and that survey was conducted before the Don’t Say Gay law was expanded earlier this year.

But the study from the Williams Institute – which focused exclusively on Floridian parents with at least one child under 18 – tells a different story.

The study found that 89 percent of Republican parents support the law, compared to only 29 percent of Democratic parents. It also found that a whopping 40% of respondents would like to leave the state, with 11% saying they would “very likely” move in the next two years.

The Don’t Say Gay law – signed and championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) – originally banned discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-3 but has since been extended through grade 12.

The law allows parents to sue schools if they feel the law has been violated. Not only that, but the school districts must pay for any lawsuit.

During his time in office, DeSantis has waged war on public education, with a vendetta against the teaching of racial and LGBTQ+ issues in schools.

In May, he signed a law forbidding colleges and universities from spending state or federal funding on programs that promote political or social activism or “diversity, equity, and inclusivity” (DEI). DeSantis said such DEI programs often actually stand for “discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination.”

In 2022, DeSantis signed the so-called “Stop WOKE Act,” which forbids schools and businesses from offering educational programs on racism and gender-based discrimination. The law is currently on hold as a court considers its impact on constitutionally protected rights to free speech.