It’s public knowledge to most of you reading this that QUEERGURU divides its time between Miami and Massachusetts. As time goes on, we spend a lot of our days thinking that the Miami part is no longer tenable for us. We haven’t fallen out of love with our sun-drenched beach resort BUT every day we get increasingly disheartened by the bullies in power. We have De Santis, a paler version of The Orange Man in power, and in the wings the miniature Rubio (he claims to be 5 ‘ 9″, but we’ve long since stopped believing a word he says)
If you need reminding of the damage that De Sanctimonius has done so far, here goes :-
He has signed a series of high-profile legislative measures and policies that restrict LGBTQ+ rights. These actions have fueled national debate, with critics and advocacy groups characterizing them as anti-LGBTQ+, while proponents frame them as efforts to protect parental rights and restrict “woke” ideologies.
- HB 1557 (2022): Formally titled the Parental Rights in Education bill, this initial law prohibited classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.
- HB 1069 (2023): Expanded the prohibition on sexual orientation and gender identity instruction from pre-K through 8th grade. It also banned public school employees and students from being required to use pronouns that do not align with a person’s sex assigned at birth.
- SB 254 (2023): Banned gender-affirming medical care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for individuals under the age of 18. The law established felony penalties for healthcare providers who violate the ban and created provisions allowing the state to take temporary custody of a minor receiving such treatment.
- SB 1580 (2023): Known as the “License to Discriminate in Healthcare” bill, it allows medical providers and insurance companies to deny care to patients based on moral, ethical, or religious beliefs.
- HB 1521 (2023): A public facilities measure mandating that individuals use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their sex assigned at birth in K-12 schools, domestic violence centers, correctional facilities, and government buildings.
- Driver’s License Bans (2024): State agencies implemented rules preventing transgender individuals from changing the gender marker on their driver’s licenses to match their gender identity.
4. Local Government and Diversity Defunding- HB 1001 / SB 1134 (2026): Signed into law to prohibit state and local governments from funding, enacting, or promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Because the bill’s definition includes restrictions on promoting concepts tied to gender identity and sexual orientation, civil rights organizations like Equality Florida warned it effectively defunds municipal support for LGBTQ+ community programs and local Pride events.
- SB 170 (2023): An extreme preemption law designed to make it significantly easier for businesses and individuals to challenge local non-discrimination ordinances in court, slowing down cities attempting to pass municipal LGBTQ+ protections.
- SB 1438 (2023): Targeted “adult-oriented performances” by threatening to revoke the licenses of businesses or penalize venues that allowed minors into events featuring drag performances. (Note: Federal judges blocked enforcement of this specific law, alongside parts of the pronoun restrictions, pending further legal battles.
De Santis’s bold-faced actions actually encourage others in Florida to go even further in this homophobic campaign of hate. It has just been revealed that Marshall Rawson, who is running for Florida House District 10, shared a story on Twitter in 2023 about two men in Uganda facing the possible death penalty under the country’s anti-LGBTQ law. His response? That this is how you “run” LGBTQ people out of Florida.
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And that’s not all. Marshall has a long history of standing with white supremacists. He marched in the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, VA, where protesters chanted “Jews will not replace us” and a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, murdering Heather Heyer. And he has participated in other events with the League of the South, a known neo-Nazi organization, whose leadership has spewed antisemitic bile online.
Now, Marshall won his Republican primary in a historically deep red seat and is positioned to become a state lawmaker — where he could promote his disgusting views and hatred into proposed legislation.
That’s why the November election is so critical, and Equality Florida Action PAC is investing deeply in helping elect pro-equality champions to fight back against his toxic politics in the Capitol. Because lives literally depend on it.
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