Don't approve " Don't say gay bill

 There is an elephant in the room, literally. 

    Or perhaps it would be better to say that there is an elephant in the state legislative chamber in Tallahassee,  and this elephant has his foot poised to stamp out any discussion of human sexuality in the classroom that invokes homosexuality. It is literally dragging scarlet letters out of the closet, so that those who would help educate our students about the range of human sexuality will be labeled, and barred from doing so. 

    I recently relocated to Florida from Upstate , New York, and changed from a snowbird to full time Florida resident. Since I have spent my lifetime in state and local politics, I am acquainting myself with Florida's political situation. And first, I must say, this is far, far from being NY, politically. 

When I first moved here in 2021, I actually praised Governor DeSantis for prioritizing the vaccination of those over 65 ( of which I am one) , while at the time, the Governor of New York was espousing other priorities . I even said, publicly , that DeSantis was right and Cuomo was wrong. Since I am a former Co- Chair of the NYS Democratic Party, the NY post newspaper took note of it , and ran a front page headline entitled " Take this jab and shove it!" (https://nypost.com/2021/01/17/former-nys-dem-party-head-gets-vaccinated-in-florida/) 

     Since then, however, Gov. DeSantis seems to have reversed polarity on the vaccination issue, and embraced a number of other positions which appeal to the far right of his party. The most recent example of this political metamorphosis is a new Legislative Act intended to ban  the discussion of LGBTQ issues in the classroom . It has been called " The Florida Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. It's premise seems to be that if we just ignore it,  the issue of gay equal rights will somehow just disappear. Prohibiting the discussion or even mention of such matters in the classroom is seen as preserving parental rights in discussing or not discussing such matters. 

Maybe ignoring it will make it go away!

     Well, frankly, this is one of the scariest things I have ever heard a state legislative body to be considering. I can see an errant school board here and there, getting into the issue, but a statewide legislative body? Lord help us. And as the old saying goes, " The Lord helps those who help themselves", so I think it is important to take up the cause against this bill, it's genesis and sponsors. That is what I. Will endeavor to do to unmask the profound stupidity of such a proposal. This letter is the first step in that process. More, much more, to come