Florida ‘Road-testing’ Authoritarianism, Trans Activist and Cable Host Agree
Under DeSantis, state leading fierce attacks on the LGBTQ community
Florida is in the midst of a “road-test” of authoritarianism in the state, according to a cable news host and a transgender activist.
The Sunshine State has seen a sustained attack against the LGBTQ community and other marginalized populations under the leadership of Gov Ron DeSantis and the other Republicans who lead the state.
Florida not only passed a controversial “Don't Say Gay” law, the state has been seeking to limit the rights of its transgender residents.
DeSantis is considered a likely contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“I think that what we’re seeing across the board right now is a road test for authoritarianism in the United States, how can you sort of separate, demonize, stigmatize an entire group of people in order to build the type of society that religious zealots want,” said Imara Jones, chair of the Transgender Law Center, which calls itself the largest national trans-led organization advocating for the transgender community, in an on-camera appearance on MSNBC host Ali Velshi's program. “And they’re trying this. And, really, what I get confused by is why people don’t see that that’s what’s happening on, don’t understand that in some ways that we’re — this is a prototype, just like the early 1930s were in Germany.”
Velshi, himself, concurred.
“No, but they did — they did road-test everything in 1930s Germany, right? They went after trans and gay people first and they tried that out and society was like, ‘Well, I don’t really understand them and it doesn’t really matter to me,’” he said.
“That’s exactly right. And the same thing is happening here,” Jones added.
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