Over the course of 63 day legislative session, Gov. Ron DeSantis and his acolytes in the Florida Legislature carried out with brutal efficiency a 4H agenda. Of course, I am not referring to an effort to get children involved in agriculture, but rather a set of policies that are hateful, harmful, hurtful and homophobic. In six years of serving the people of South Florida in the state Senate, I can say with absolute certainty that this past legislative session was by far the most ruthless that I have ever seen.
While DeSantis referred to his 4H agenda as a prescription for a “Free Florida,” I and many others would argue that this description could not be farther from the truth. The policies rammed through by our politically ambitious governor have dealt a substantial blow to the fundamental and constitutionally protected rights and liberties of the people of Florida, most notably their right to bodily autonomy in the form of a 15-week abortion ban without any exceptions for victims of rape and incest.
For its proponents, the 15-week abortion ban is a cruel and calculated political move. To women and girls, it is an all-out assault on their right to health care access and bodily autonomy. Not only will the Republicans’ repeated refusal to include exceptions for victims of rape and incest create unarguable instances of forced pregnancy (listed by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights as torture), but the bill will also eliminate the final safe-haven in the entire southeastern United States for women seeking to exercise their right to choice in terms of reproductive health care. This is harmful and hurtful policy.
The hateful DeSantis 4H agenda has gone so far as to seek to erase the very identities of those whom he and his supporters deem to be undesirable. This malicious goal is, of course, the primary focus of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. This homophobic piece of legislation will eliminate LGBTQ+ representation in our schools, barring classroom discussions about inclusion and Florida’s diverse individuals and families. This law will lead to a surge in unmitigated bullying targeting LGBTQ+ students and those with LGBTQ+ family members. Without the ability to address the root-cause of the bullying through counseling and discussion, teachers and school personnel will be left with no method to end the torment of those being targeted, creating an endless cycle of bullying and pain.
Not only does DeSantis’ agenda seek to erase individuals, but it also includes a brazen attempt to erase our history as well. This is the goal of DeSantis’ so-called “Stop Woke Act,” otherwise known as HB 7. This new law forbids schools from teaching that individuals may face inherent inequities or oppression based on their race, sex, or national origin. Given that Florida has a long and troubling past of slavery, segregation and institutional racism, forbidding the accurate teaching of the impacts of these horrible practices is detrimental to the education of our students and our state’s ability to right the wrongs of our past.
Why are DeSantis and his Republican allies so intent on pursuing these hateful, harmful, hurtful and homophobic policies? I think to answer this question it is best to look at the problems that the governor and Republican majority are not seeking to solve.
Florida has a severe affordable housing crisis. Our state now has the highest percentage of cost-burdened renters in the country, as half of renters in Florida put more than 30% of their household income toward rent. Yet DeSantis and the Republican-held legislature have done nothing to address this problem.
In the face of a global pandemic, 2.8 million Floridians still do not have health insurance. With a simple vote and the stroke of a pen, more than half of those people (1.5 million) would have access to affordable quality health care through Medicaid expansion. On this critical issue, the governor and his Republican accomplices also refuse to act.
The Governor and his Republican Legislature refuse to pursue good policies that address the real problems that are plaguing everyday Floridians, because doing so would only aggravate the wealthy corporations that fuel their political machine. So, instead, they have chosen to manufacture a culture war to distract those that they are actively harming. The goal of the 4H agenda is to maintain Republican political control, all at the expense of women, children, minorities and our most vulnerable populations.
There is nothing wrong with being awake, and anyone who wants you to keep your eyes closed should not be trusted.
Florida state Sen. Gary Farmer represents District 34, which includes all of coastal Broward County.
