Republicans in Florida are working with a Capitol rioter to promote their controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill as outrage over the legislation continues.
Brandon Straka, a pro-Trump influencer will host a Twitter Space town hall on Monday. The event, titled “Don’t Say ‘Don’t Say Gay,’” features several GOP lawmakers from Florida including Rep. Joe Harding, the lawmaker who introduced the bill, along with LGBTQ pundits, and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw.
“Every Republican is being maligned nationally by the left’s latest manufactured crisis. Why? Because they’re headed into brutal midterms,” Straka wrote in a tweet. “This affects every Republican—so be there tonight!”
Straka, a self-described “former liberal” who founded the #WalkAway campaign to encourage people to leave the Democratic Party, was sentenced earlier this year to three years probation for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds in October.
Straka was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, and an additional $500 for the damage done to the Capitol building.
Straka’s involvement in the Florida GOP’s efforts to sell the bill is not going over well with Democratic lawmakers and some residents in Florida, according to the Daily Beast.
“An insurrectionist joined by a group of MAGA trolls and GOP lawmakers is not an ‘honest discussion’—it’s unhinged, anti-LGBTQ propaganda,” state Rep. Carlos Smith (D), Florida’s first LGBTQ lawmaker told The Daily Beast. “This desperate attempt at damage control after the public turned against DeSantis on ‘Don’t Say Gay’ won’t work.”
“Instead of addressing legitimate concerns Floridians have of the bill they’ve referred to us as ‘groomers,’ say we ‘haven’t read the bill’ and are trying to mislead the public in saying that the bill prevents ‘sexualization’ of our kids. False,” state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D) told the outlet. “The bill explicitly targets LGBTQ+ people and tonight’s Twitter space is just another extreme example of how far they’ll go to feed into their lies.”
The Republican-controlled Senate passed the Parental Rights in Education bill, which critics call the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill last Tuesday. DeSantis is expected to sign it into law later this month. It goes into effect for the 2022-2023 school year once it is signed.
The bill bans teachers and school districts from discussing gender identity and topics surrounding sexuality in the classroom from kindergarten through the third grade, with the goal of reinforcing the “fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding upbringing and control of their children.”
Critics say the bill would open school districts up to lawsuits from parents who believe any conversations about LGBTQ issues in the classroom is inappropriate and could harm LGBTQ youths mental health.
