What if somebody came up to your party (which, for now, we’ll call “your life”) and told you through his or her whitened teeth that all of the victories you’ve fought for, all of the freedoms promised to you by your own constitution in your own country, didn’t matter anymore? We know, we know: This is the same sweaty-pitted badminton argument that comes along with every legislative back-and-forth session, either state or national. Red! Blue! Green! Translucent! But what if those values were so fundamental that their rolling back might result in you rolling into a ball and effectively giving up? What if they would mean that you would be perpetually sick, poor, fired or allowed to die there right next to the decency twig you clung to.
There’s a certain hollowness that comes with these realizations, an identity crisis that sets you apart from what your therapist might call the “river” to which sides you are supposed to cling when you need to catch a breath in a pause in life. Has your chest ever ached with the breadth of absolute futility? Well, given the current climate of state legislators (and presidential candidates) parading a nihilistic Mardi Gras against the rights of women and LGBT people (sometimes both!), that ache should inspire you to do more.
On Jan. 25, we attended a press conference for Planned Parenthood, an agency that has been so maligned by the far right that it might has well be hanging from a tree in the suburbs, and our chest caved a bit. It’s not just because of the same old triggers of legislation – this year’s hot new cover of state Rep. Chuck Van Zant, R-Keystone Heights, “Florida for Life” bill (HB 865) is a real treat if you don’t want women to have any reproductive rights; that “Pastor Protection Bill” from a grinning state Rep. Scott Plakon, which is an anti-gay Footloosedance with cruelty, is a cute follow-up – because now it’s getting far more personal. The conservative right, pearls clutched and guns grabbed, are going after every nuance of our proven freedoms, courts be damned.
Planned Parenthood director of public policy Anna V. Eskamani took to the mic at the Jan. 25 presser outside the office of state Rep. Mike Miller, R-Orlando, to speak of a cascade of “rapidly moving” bills full of “unnecessary regulations” for abortion providers. TRAP bills are nothing new, to be sure. But this year, given their success in places like Texas (TRAP bills effectively regulate providers out of existence, because they are traps), Florida seems to be biting down just a bit harder.
“There are three anti-abortion bills in the first three weeks of session,” Eskamani said, with all due indignation. Other speakers pointed out that government funds don’t go to Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy termination services, because, well, that’s federally illegal. With polling in District 47 – represented by Miller, a Republican who once stood up for equality at an Equality Florida mixer – showing majority support for reproductive freedom, Miller’s vote should likely reflect both the law and his constituency. Hell, even Republican Orange County Comptroller Martha Haynie was there to lend support, even with a sick grandchild in crisis.
“We want to talk about prevention,” Eskamani said.
“Rep. Miller, don’t stand on the wrong side of history,” another speaker reiterated.
But these are crazy times, and we have a crazy history. An Associated Press report on Jan. 22 highlighted the fight for a similar legislative maneuvering on rolling back same-sex marriage (along with Roe v. Wade, which just turned 43 this month). “In Tennessee, lawmakers swiftly rejected a measure barring the state from abiding by the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision after legislative analysts projected it could jeopardize $8.5 million in federal funding,” the news outlet reported. Then a cadre of legislators fell to the ground in prayer. Seriously.
We need to stand together. This fight is far from over. Nor is your party.
Buckhorn to the rescue!
Never one to shy away from tough topics, liberal Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn climbed on the glimmering op-ed soapbox (provided by the Tampa Bay Times) to speak against attempts by the Florida Legislature to squeeze through more open-carry freedoms, because everyone LOVES NRA legend Marion Hammer. Buckhorn, who actively fought for Tampa Pride and has been a proud supporter of same-sex marriage, came out swinging in his essay.
“It threatens public safety, tourism, economic development job creation and our quality of life,” he wrote. “Moreover, I believe it is a foolish and ineffective solution to the gun violence epidemic sweeping our nation. More guns do not equate to safer streets.”
Buckhorn pledged to join the Florida Sheriffs Association, the League of Women Voters, the Pinellas Police Standards Council and many a restaurant in opposing what appears to be dying legislation, even though he’s a self-professed gun owner himself.
“Think about what’s at stake, and how dramatically this legislation could transform the Sunshine State’s magic into something much darker.”
Gaetz strong-arms Armstrong
There’s been a lot of noise lately about the frightening increase in HIV/AIDS infections in Florida, and Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, isn’t going to let that noise die down. Dr. John Armstrong, who was previously appointed by Gov. Rick Scott as Florida’s surgeon general, is facing senate scrutiny for an actual confirmation the last week of January, and it’s looking pretty grim. The state Department of Health has decreased its staffing from 17,107 to 14,358, the Tampa Bay Times reports; Gov. Scott intends to decrease it by more than 700 positions in the coming year.
Armstrong contends that the agency is spending more than it ever has on HIV prevention – an estimated $34 million – but his critics point to his own inability to lead on the issue. He prefers to discuss kinder, gentler causes like childhood obesity.
Still, when Florida becomes the highest-ranking state for HIV infections (6,240 new cases in 2015) under your watch, especially while the rest of the nation is seeing improvement, there’s likely a leadership issue here. And it might be Scott’s issue, not Armstrong’s.
Another great schism
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has found a new home within the LGBTQ community, Slate.com reports. At the Jan. 22 Creating Change Conference, an event put on by the National LGBTQ Task Force, push came to shove when the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity came to protest blows with A Wider Bridge, a Jewish LGBT organization. A planned reception by the Jewish contingent was cancelled and then reinstated, Slate reports, an act which drew hundreds of protesters against Zionism and “pinkwashing.”
Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern points out that A Wider Bridge doesn’t hold any stake in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and says that accusations of “pinkwashing” – meaning Israel’s olive branches toward LGBTQ civil rights are only built to distract from other human rights issues within the country – are unfounded. The author then goes on to call the LGBTQ-left anti-Semitic.
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