I’ve written this and then quit part of the way through so many times because I simply don’t know where to start. I was born and raised in Florida, and I’ve spent my entire life here. As an adult, I’ve been consciously and conscientiously building a life that is full of meaning and community connections and liberatory promise. As an educator, I’ve fought to make my classroom a place where my students feel safe, where they’re held accountable, and where they feel empowered to stand up against the oppression and injustice of our society. 

But there is something essential to understanding how politics work down here and in much of the South: The will of the people is much different than the will of the elected officials who represent us. That’s not by accident, it’s by design. And it’s something the rest of the country should heed as a warning.

There have always been enemies to the mission of equality here, and in recent years they have rebranded as ‘anti-woke.’ But I don’t think any of those enemies have been quite as powerful and destructive as Florida Governor and presidential-hopeful Ron DeSantis and the state’s current majority-Right legislature. Not least because of the implications of their rise for the rest of the country.

This year’s legislative session began on March 7, 2023 and ended on May 5. In the span of two months, the Florida legislature introduced, amended and passed several bills aimed at restricting the rights of queer and trans people in the state. I’ll list just the most oppressive and severe measures passed. 

First, HB1421/SB254, which both bans gender-affirming care for minors and threatens to take them away from their parents should their parents seek out that care for them. Then HB1521, which prohibits people from using public bathrooms that align most closely with their sex and gender. 

There was the expansion to the “Parental Rights in Education” HB1557, making it so any K-12 public school that receives state funding cannot discuss topics related to LGBTQ life with students. And SB1438, which threatens to fine, suspend or revoke the business license of any place that allows kids into “adult [drag] performances.” 

Also, SB1580, which is not explicitly anti-LGBTQ, but gives medical providers the right to deny services based on their “conscience.” Finally, HB999/SB266, which not only allows the state to gut LGBTQ programs in higher education, but also lets them gut all diversity and equity education programs and any other programs they deem “woke.”

These aren’t just a lot of numbers, letters and legal jargon. The impacts of them on my life, the lives of my friends and the lives of my students are real. 

For example, if I choose to stay in education, I’ll have to rethink my entire approach to teaching, which rests on the principles of collective liberation and the idea that we learn best when both students and teachers are able to express vulnerability in the classroom. I’ll also be forced to not talk about the fact that I’m queer and nonbinary. 

I won’t be able to ask my students their pronouns or discuss everything from racial justice to the immigration crisis to queer and trans rights, without being worried that I’ll get pushback from parents or administration or someone else entirely. 

On top of that, every aspect of my career can be scrutinized in an attempt to discredit me as an educational professional after 11 years of teaching. I’m outraged that all of this is being done to render us as powerless as possible by a few particular elites who hold the majority of the power in this state.

And I can see in the way that these happenings in Florida are discussed in the media and online that people truly don’t understand exactly what we’ve been up against historically and how that history impacts what is happening right now. As Desantis and his cronies have been in the news so much over the last couple of years, people who are not from here endlessly and cluelessly comment on the state of politics here – calling Florida voters “dumb,” when most of us disapprove of his policies. It’s rough to get on the internet every day and see people blaming us for what’s happening to us. 

They attribute his success to voter ignorance or voter apathy or the overall conservatism of the people who live here. When in fact, many publications noted that Republican voter registration had increased because of a number of people moving to the state, usurping Democratic registration by almost 200,000 people. 

They also fail to mention that historically, Florida is one of the most gerrymandered states in the country — there are millions of people who can’t vote easily or at all in the state during every election cycle. The way the districts are drawn has always been cause for attention, but this problem got even worse last year when Desantis and the Florida GOP decided to throw out the state government’s recommended redistricting maps in order to create their own. The new maps disenfranchise already disenfranchised voters even further and give the GOP an electoral edge. 

In addition to that, there are nearly a million people in Florida who still haven’t had their voting rights restored after incarceration. The people of the state voted to pass Amendment 4 in 2018, which should have restored the right to vote to these people, but the Florida GOP took it upon themselves to go against the will of the people of Florida and set up additional financial barriers and regulations for people who should have had their rights restored. 

Even more concerning is the fact that a lot of people outside of Florida don’t seem to understand how threatening all of these measures are to the rest of the country. It’s easy to witness these infringements from afar and think you’re safe from the harm they’ll cause, but it should be concerning to everyone that they’ve been able to accomplish all of this because people in the state have been rendered somewhat powerless against them and the Federal government is limited in what they can actually do about it. 

Since the start of Desantis’s culture wars, we’ve already seen similar attacks on civil rights  and democracy in many other states, including Texas, Utah, Tennessee, and Arkansas. And of course, Desantis has officially launched his campaign for President of the United States.

It feels as if the GOP is using Florida as the testing ground for a larger attack on our liberties nationwide, and the test is working. 

We all have to make the choice — together — to stand up against this and the country that keeps allowing it to happen by supporting queer and trans people through local mutual aid and through the use of our voices. We must also organize against attacks on the ability to make our voices heard at the voting booth, in the streets or in the classroom.

Not just Floridians. Not just Southerners. All of us.