Ron DeSantis’ Ethnic Cleansing Campaign Against LGBTQ People

This Friday, Florida’s Medical Board, a group of DeSantis appointees, is set to ban gender affirming care for transgender and non-binary Floridians. Gender affirming care has been a target for the GOP nationwide for the past couple years as they have engaged in demagoguery around the existence of the LGBTQ+ community. Policies such as this along with a flurry of rhetoric from Republican elected officials and Republican media personalities has led to a rise in violence against LGBTQ folks as well as in depression and suicide rates, particularly among queer and trans kids. Florida’s Medical Board is poised to make a decision that will quite literally correlate with more LGBTQ Floridians dying.

Fighting for our lives isn’t new.

Just six years ago, 49 of us were killed at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Senator Rubio claimed that this tragedy inspired him to run for re-election. Politicians made a lot of promises about preventing tragedies like Pulse from transpiring. Their empty words lead to shallow graves.

I am tired of seeing Republican politicians use bigotry and fear mongering to gain power, and I’m tired of watching it work. As of right now, the consensus among the pollsters is that DeSantis is set to be re-elected this year, giving him an even bigger platform to run for president in 2024. His Medical Board’s decisions compounded with his Don’t Say Gay bill are tantamount to an ethnic cleansing campaign. They want trans people dead. They want gay people to go back in the closet. They don’t want us to marry who we love, be able to get professional jobs, or have kids. As a Jewish queer person, it’s all too familiar when the state targets minorities in such a malicious way. We are already seeing conservative magazines debate the “transgender question.” Right-wing personalities are inciting pogroms against drag shows. Doctors and nurses who provide healthcare for LGBTQ folks are being doxxed and receiving death threats. We have seen this before, and we know where it leads.

Now is the time to stand with the LGBTQ+ community. We need you in this fight to vote against homophobic and transphobic politicians, and we need you to use your voice to demand our leaders protect LGBTQ folks by passing the Equality Act, codifying marriage equality and reproductive access, and expanding access to healthcare including gender affirming care. There is no arc that magically bends towards justice. We have to be that arc, and be the voice for our beloved community.