Jill Biden has sparked outrage with claims that Florida is going the way of Nazi Germany and endangering democracy itself with its efforts to keep “pornographic” books out of classrooms.
The first lady was dispatched to California in a snap this weekend as the Biden campaign tries to close its poll deficit as the clock ticks down toward November’s general election.
And she tried to explain the battleground to her Democratic audience, who had paid up to $100,000 per ticket, by telling them that Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act was a step toward dictatorship.
“History tells us that democracies do not disappear overnight,” she said. ‘They disappear slowly, subtly silently. A book bans a court ruling, a Don’t Say Gay law.
‘Before World War II, I’m told, Berlin was the center of LGBTQ culture in Europe. One group of people loses their rights and then another, and another, until one morning you wake up and no longer live in a democracy.”
First Lady Jill Biden compared Florida’s efforts to protect children to Germany’s tendency toward dictatorship in the 1930s
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, on March 28, 2022 at Classical Preparatory School
Books by ‘degenerate’ authors were torn from library shelves by the Nazis and set on fire
She spoke just days after Florida settled a lawsuit over the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, which Governor Ron DeSantis said is a “major victory” for his conservative agenda in the Sunshine State.
The 2022 law banned instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, and was expanded to all grades last year.
In defense of the law two years ago, DeSantis held a news conference to display books parents had found in Florida school libraries.
Some contain illustrations of minors engaging in sexual activity and instructions on how to masturbate, perform sexual acts or download apps that make it easier to have “casual intercourse.”
And he denounced the ‘hoax’ that removing books from the classroom would be a form of ‘book ban’.
“I just think that parents, when they send their kids to school, they don’t have to worry about this waste ending up in the schools,” the Republican Party governor said.
At the launch of his re-election campaign in January, the president said Donald Trump was “echoing the exact same language used in Nazi Germany.”
But many on social media were disgusted by his wife’s attempt to compare his Republican opponents to the Nazi regime.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis played a shocking video at the start of his press conference Wednesday with sexually explicit content illustrated and detailed in children’s books found at several Florida schools
One of the books DeSantis cited was Flamer, which through illustration and description depicts young boys at a summer camp engaging in sexual acts.
DeSantis’ approximately six-minute video shows pages from some of the books, some of which contain graphic illustrations like the one above, describing how to use a butt plug
The First Lady was congratulated on her speech in LA by her daughter Ashley and Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign
But reactions on social media were less impressed by the First Lady’s Nazi allusions
“Enough with the Nazi references,” one wrote, “every time these people compare their political opposition to the Nazis, they diminish the horrors of the actual victims of the Third Reich. This rhetoric is disgusting.”
“Did she mention Jews at all?” asked one, ‘I didn’t hear it. Is she trying to equate LGBTQ with the Jews murdered by the Nazis?”
“No one is trying to ban books, but not all books belong in the primary school library,” a third added.
“Do Dems think Hustler magazine should be available to kids? Why is this such a difficult concept?’
The first lady praised her husband’s contributions to LGBT rights in her speech to the Human Rights Campaign in LA, warning that the “MAGA extremists are trying to erase these hard-won gains.”
“Thanks to President Biden, marriage equality is now the law of the land,” she added.
‘He ended the ban on blood donation for gay and bisexual men. He has made it possible for trans Americans to serve openly and honorably in the military. And he is firmly against conversion therapy.
“There are victories that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago: having the freedom to walk down the street as your authentic self. Colleagues who use your chosen name and pronouns.
“MAGA Republicans are waging war over our choices, our future, and trying to drag us back down a dark and dangerous path.”
But her speech was marred by repeated bickering from protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.
‘Dr. Biden, I am a queer Jew calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire,” someone shouted as a series of protesters were cleared by security.
States including Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and North Carolina have used the Florida law as an example for banning classroom teaching about gender identity or sexual orientation.
Some teachers said they were unsure whether to mention or show a photo of their same-sex partner in class, and critics said that in some cases even lines mentioning sexual orientation had been dropped from school musicals.
But Florida struck a deal earlier this month with plaintiffs who challenged the law in court, establishing that what applies to LGBTQ people also applies to heterosexual people.
The Parental Rights in Education Act – dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” Act by opponents – was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022 and set off a firestorm across the country
The law also set off the ongoing legal battle between DeSantis and Disney over control of Walt Disney World’s government district in central Florida, after DeSantis seized control of the government in what the company described as retaliation for its opposition to the legislation.
And it also doesn’t apply to library books that aren’t used for classroom instruction.
In a statement, DeSantis’ office described the deal as a “major victory” that kept the principles of the law intact.
“We fought hard to ensure that this law could not be vilified in court as it was in the public arena by the media and major corporations,” said Florida Attorney General Ryan Newman.
“We won, and Florida classrooms will remain a safe place under the Parental Rights in Education Act.”