We’re proud to put up 6 “In Florida … We Say Gay!” billboards across Florida to celebrate Pride Month with a message of support and solidarity, funded by over 1,000 Cedar Key Progress donors.
The stakes have never been higher than they are right now for the trans and queer community
Florida Republicans are trying to make it so that our state is unsafe for anyone who isn’t a Christian, straight, white man, and we won’t stand for being known for all of this bigotry and hate. We say gay because the Florida we know welcomes everyone, whether you’re trans or cis, gay or straight, Black, brown or white.
Cedar Key Progress Poll: Floridians Oppose Book Bans, Support DEI
A recent Cedar Key Progress poll of 400 Floridians, conducted May 18-22, 2023 by Civiqs, found that Floridians oppose LGBTQ+ book bans and Ron DeSantis’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Do you support or oppose laws removing books mentioning gay and transgender people and history from public school libraries? Support 42% Oppose 48% Neither support nor oppose 7% Unsure 3%
Do you support or oppose laws banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs from colleges and universities? Support 39% Oppose 50% Neither support nor oppose 7% Unsure 4%
Nobody said Gay when I was a kid, there were no Drag Queen Story Hours, no Pride events, no representation of any kind, and I still turned out Gay. These clowns have no idea what they’re doing, they’ll end up hurting kids in the long run. For awhile, I thought we’d made some progress in this country, now I realize the hate, fear and ignorance was just festering, waiting until it was lauded by the Republican Party. The billboards are nice, but they aren’t likely to change anyone’s mind.
My hope is that all this poison can be treated like an infection in the body like an abscess. Now that it has come to the surface, it can be lanced and dealt with. But I am at a loss as to what will be the cure.
Just read yesterday that a whole lot of LGBTQ folks are trying to move away from Florida now. Including parents of gay and trans kids who are terrified the state will seize their children from them.
Valid fear. My friend and his husband left just last month. As my friend put it, the medical scare his husband had is in the past but if one arises again, they didn’t want to risk being in FL and being denied care.
I wonder what will happen, when school comes back into session, and High School Students, consistently ask questions about being Gay in their classes??? What will the schools do to them???
This is the republicans clearly showing they do not want democracy but instead want to rule. They are drive to rule over the people instead of being civil servants. They demand districts that they cannot lose and no democrat can win no matter who the people wish to represent them. They demand to pick their voters and enforce their will on them rather than pass the laws the people want. Why? Because power gives them access to personal wealth and also the ability to force their church doctrines on the public regardless if the public has the same religious faith. The ability to push their god on everyone, forcing everyone to worship as they do is paramount to them. Making it the law to follow what their religious views are is more important to them than personal liberty or democracy. Hugs
The measure would affect any county that has a population of more than 4 million people – Harris County is the only county in the state that meets that criterion.
Harris County is a bright blue spot in a red state. Donald Trump won Texas’ presidential election in 2020 by six points, even as he lost the county by 13 points to Joe Biden.
This is brazen gaslighting! This is a major victory for Texas GOP authoritarianism and and big defeat for democracy. You are targeting Harris County to eliminate its independent elections administrator, so you can suppress votes & overturn elections results you don't like. https://t.co/UCL5KAn2e0
The first bill, S.B.1070, would abolish the elections administrator position in counties with more than 3.5 million people—which *only* includes Harris County.
The Texas Legislature is sending two election bills to Gov. Abbott (R) for signing: #SB1933, which would allow the state to take over election administration in Harris County, and #SB1070, which would allow Texas to leave the data voter organization ERIC. https://t.co/efLSpv5bmN
— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) May 29, 2023
#SB1933 will allow the secretary of state to take over election administration if they have "good cause to believe" that recurrent election problems exist in a county. The bill would only apply to counties with over 4 million residents. Only Harris County fits that criterion.
— Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) May 29, 2023
I fully expect to see similar legislation in other red states.
Republicans can’t win elections fairly, so where gerrymandering has given them the power they either block people from registering and voting, or stop counting their votes through stunts such as this.
Texas will settle for nothing less in the long term but a neoapartheid with white people in absolute control of brown people. That’s what I see whenever majority Latino districts are disenfranchised, there’s always a creepy old white guy like Mr. Century 21 jacket up there involved, churches and oil money.
Again the bill is vague to keep fear in the performers / venues that they may be arrested or fines. It is vague so that anything can be a violation of the law if the authorities don’t like it. In fact I am listening to Vaush describe this right now, it is a deliberate attempt to outlaw something that courts would prevent legislators from outlawing. That is why they took drag out of the bill specifically because courts have held up laws outlawing drag in other states, but they added prosthetics depicting sexual organs meaning fake boobies as sexual conduct. The bill classifies as sexual conduct the use of “accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics,” accompanied with sexual gesticulations. Also anything can be a sexual gesture even dancing. Remember when dancing was thought to be sinful and simulated sexual movements. This is clearly am attempt to eliminate any performance of someone dressed in gender clothing different than their assigned at birth sex. If a man adds fake boobs or a woman puts something to add a bulge to their pants, it is prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics. And the people pushing the bill admit they find drag disgusting and they want it removed from public / society. The US Taliban. Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, authored SB 12 after a small but loud group of activists and extremist groups fueled anti-drag panic by filming drag shows and posting the videos on social media. Those groups characterized all drag as inherently sexual regardless of the content or audience, which resonated with top GOP leaders in the state, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Notice that these same Christian lawmakers exempted super large breasted servers at restaurants designed to excite straight boys or adult men. I guess exaggerated sexual female sexual characteristics are OK if it is heterosexual prurient interest in sex. Democrats questioned whether the bill’s language would also ensnare restaurants like Twin Peaks that feature scantily clad servers. Shaheen said the way the bill is written exempts these types of performances. At the end of the article I will add some more stuff based on the bills author’s Christian beliefs that have been pushed into law or tried to get to be laws. Hugs
Originally pitched as an effort to restrict children from seeing certain drag shows, the House and Senate agreed on a version of the bill that could still ensnare LGBTQ performers.
The Texas State Capitol on June 8, 2022. Credit: Kylie Cooper/The Texas Tribune
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The Texas Legislature gave final approval Sunday to a bill that will criminalize performers that put on sexually explicit shows in front of children as well as any businesses that host them.
Originally designed as legislation to restrict minors from attending certain drag shows, lawmakers agreed on bill language that removed direct reference to drag performers just before an end-of-day deadline. The bill now goes to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
Under Senate Bill 12, business owners would face a $10,000 fine for hosting sexually explicit performances in which someone is nude or appeals to the “prurient interest in sex.” Performers caught violating the proposed restriction could be slapped with a Class A misdemeanor, which carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
After lawmakers from both chambers met in a conference committee to hash out the differences between their versions of the bill, the House and Senate released a new one that expanded the penal code’s definition of sexual conduct.The bill classifies as sexual conduct the use of “accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics,” accompanied with sexual gesticulations.
Advocates said this addition is aimed at drag queens’ props and costumes, which is evidence that lawmakers are still targeting the LGBTQ community.
Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano, amended the legislation in the House by removing explicit reference to drag. Shaheen told The Texas Tribune that members had viewed videos of performances in which children were exposed to “lewd, disgusting, inappropriate stuff.” He said the updated bill addresses what was in those videos. Shaheen did not specify which videos concerned lawmakers.
Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, authored SB 12 after a small but loud group of activists and extremist groups fueled anti-drag panic by filming drag shows and posting the videos on social media. Those groups characterized all drag as inherently sexual regardless of the content or audience, which resonated with top GOP leaders in the state, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Advocates say the revisions to the legislation still target drag, even if those types of performances aren’t directly mentioned in the bill.
Brigitte Bandit, an Austin-based drag performer, criticized the addition of “accessories or prosthetics” to the bill. Drag artists performing in front of children don’t wear sexually explicit costumes, Bandit said, adding that this bill creates a lot of confusion over what is and isn’t acceptable to do at drag shows.
“Is me wearing a padded bra going to be [considered] enhancing sexual features?” Bandit asked. “It’s still really vague but it’s still geared to try to target drag performance, which is what this bill has been trying to do this entire time, right?”
Shaheen said that including direct reference to drag performers wasn’t necessary to the intent of the bill, which was to restrict children from seeing sexually explicit material.
“You want it to cover inappropriate drag shows, but you [also] want it to cover if a stripper starts doing stuff in front of a child,” Shaheen said.
Rep. Mary González, D-Clint, spoke against the bill Sunday just before the House gave it final approval in a 87-54 vote. She criticized the removal of language that previously narrowed the bill’s enforcement to only businesses. González warned that the bill’s vague language could lead to a “domino effect” of consequences.
“The broadness could negatively implicate even the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders,” said González. “It can go into your homes and say what is allowed in your homes after the lines ‘commercial enterprise’ were stricken out.”
During a House hearing on SB 12, Democrats questioned whether the bill’s language would also ensnare restaurants like Twin Peaks that feature scantily clad servers. Shaheen said the way the bill is written exempts these types of performances.
LGBTQ lawmakers applauded the removal of the direct reference to drag performers. But advocates fear the phrase “prurient interest in sex” could be interpreted broadly since Texas law doesn’t have a clear definition of the term, said Brian Klosterboer, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas who testified against the bill in a House committee.
According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the term is defined as “erotic, lascivious, abnormal, unhealthy, degrading, shameful, or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion,” though the language’s interpretation varies by community.
The Texas House sponsor of the bill, Rep. Matt Shaheen [photo above] first appeared on JMG in 2015 when he introduced a bill to nullify LGBTQ protections statewide.
The author of the bill, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, appeared here in April for his bill that would defund public libraries that host Drag Queen Story Hour.
In March, he appeared here for his bill to raise taxes on bars that host drag shows. A Texas lesbian bar has since been denied insurance.
Last year Hughes appeared here when his bill to force public schools to display “In God We Trust” posters went into effect.
In 2021, he appeared here for his bill banning criticism of white supremacy in history lessons.
RELATED: Several Pride organizations in Florida have banned drag performances or canceled events since DeSantis signed a similar bill that criminalizes shows that would potentially be within the view of children.
She admits it is OK for her boyfriend to do because he is not gay or trans and he is only joking. That is their whole point of attacking drag or dressing as a gender not assigned at birth is to attack the LGBTQ+ people, and to drive gay / trans people from society or public view. Hugs
Please tell me why an authoritarian highly ambitious arrogant Christian nationalist racist bigot who has already threatened BLM protestors and has been documented as abusing helpless prisoners want with his own military force with the power to arrest people? Considering the hate that the Governor and his supporters have for the LGBTQ+ will they use this new military police force against that community? What about drag queens? Hugs
The Florida State Guard’s (FSG) budget will grow to 10 times its current level, nearly quadruple in personnel, and become a permanent part of state government under legislation Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed.
The measure (HB 1285), promulgated by Republican Rep. Mike Giallombardo, creates a Division of the State Guard within the Department of Military Affairs as a separate budget entity headed by a Governor-appointed director, who will be confirmed by the Senate.
ACLU Florida said this expansion moves Florida closer to a police state. The new law expands the scope of its mission from being ready for activation in emergencies to also “protect and defend the people of Florida from threats to public safety.” Its members also have arresting powers.
The sweeping nature of this bill is astounding: it would divert nearly $100 million in taxpayer funding to build, arm, clothe, equip, and train a volunteer armed guard of 1,500 people to assume the duties of the National Guard.
These volunteers would have access to weapons, ammunition, planes, helicopters, boats, and surveillance technology, and would, unique among states with a State Guard, create a special unit within the State Guard with authority to make arrests.
What makes this even more troubling is that the newly-envisioned State Guard will only be accountable to the Governor and can be activated not just in a state of emergency, but any time the Governor deems necessary to broadly protect ‘from threats to public safety.’
This broad language fails to provide guardrails to ensure this special unit could not be deployed to crack down on activities that this Legislature is in the process of criminalizing.
Under the bill, the Governor will appoint the director of the state guard who serves at the pleasure of the Governor – meaning there will be no checks and balances on when and how this force is used.
Additionally, the Governor can order his State Guard to take action in other states. This is a terrifying bill that puts Floridians’ privacy, security, and safety in grave danger.
“Florida is the most military and veteran friendly state in the nation and through this legislation, we are further supporting our military, veterans and their families with the resources they need while they are serving and after they have fulfilled their duty,” said Governor Ron DeSantis.
HB 1285 establishes the Florida State Guard as a permanent component in Florida’s state militia and creates the Division of the State Guard within the Department of Military Affairs. The Florida State Guard has been appropriated $108 million in the General Appropriations Act.
HB 1285 increases the Florida State Guard from 400 to 1,500 volunteers, creates a specialist unit to act as law enforcement when necessary, and makes the force permanent, all of which enhance its capacity to defend and protect Floridians. pic.twitter.com/j3Y3FMllNX
So the 1500 members of this security Force are all volunteers? Can you imagine the type of person that will sign up for this? You’re going to have your Proud Boy types, KKK, and just your general bigoted rednecks who love guns and authoritarianism. What could go wrong?
Not really. Cubans loved fascist dictator Batista; they only hated Castro because he confiscated their property and money, not because he was also an evil fascist dictator. They love fascism and want it in the US.
Ooh, the “Gator Guard”! Next you’ll have them dig a moat around the state, and install a drawbridge.
Y’see Ron, people with the support of the populace don’t need to go into battle against them. This little historical note apparently slipped your notice.
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Scottie's Playtime 