GRAB YOUR HEELS & GET READY TO TAKE ACTION

It’s time to dust off your heels, unpack your wig, and get yourself a shiny new Pride Progress flag. On March 26, our LGBT community and its allies are coming together to fight for our rights and protest against oppressive legislation. This grass roots community event is being powered by dozens of local community leaders and organizations who recognize the imminent threat the DeSantis administration and proposed legislation like the HB 1011 pose to our community. We are all incredibly fired up by the recent defacing of the Pride Flag on Fort Lauderdale Beach, and we recognize that both Stonewall Pride and Wicked Manors are at risk if we don’t take immediate and decisive action.

The march is unique because rather than having “rest stops” along its route, we’ll be providing “action stops” where participants will take meaningful action to have their voice heard. Some planned action stops include:

1. Dialing with Demands. Participants, armed with smart talking points, will dial moderate legislators and encourage them to stand with us on LGBT issues. For those legislators who can’t be swayed, we’re identifying major donors to their campaigns who aren’t likely to appreciate their stand so we can alert them of how their donations are impacting our community.

2. Every Vote, Every Election. Designed to increase voter participation, this stop will offer voter registration and mail in ballot requests.

3. Our Values Gone Viral. An interactive and totally instagrammable experience, this action stop will provide the props and cool technology to showcase participants personal spirit and style! Digital photos with messages that demonstrate our values will be taken for participants to share instantly on their social media–helping our event go viral!

Attendees are strongly encouraged to dress up for this special occasion. Whether that means dressing in full drag or simply draping themselves in pride flags, we plan to show up as only our community can. There will be plenty of opportunities for marchers to express themselves as they move through the streets alongside like-minded individuals.

At a time when Florida’s governor has launched multiple attacks on drag queen communities, individuals belonging to the LGBT spectrum need to come together to resist this oppressive attempt to marginalize and dismiss our community. This march serves as a reminder that our voices cannot be drowned out — we are here and ready to make our demands heard across all levels of government!

This march represents more than just a political or social statement – it shows that despite adversity, we can come together to make positive change happen. It sends a message of hope not only for those in Florida but for people throughout the country who are already subject to anti-drag laws and oppressive legislation. Those who attend this march will become part of a legacy in which we stand up for what we believe in and make our voices heard! To register for the event and see the latest updates, visit https://fb.me/ e/8gcer2EYM.

Sincerely, Chris

Caputo

Wilton Manors City Commissioner

Church of Our Savior MCC

In June of 2021, Hungary passed a law banning instruction on LGBT topics in schools, prohibiting information on gay and transgender people in sex education classes. Nine months later, Ron DeSantis signed HB 1557 Parental Rights in Education, or “Don’t Say Gay.” According to reports, when asked about a connection between the laws, Ron DeSantis’s Press Secretary at the time, Christina Pushaw, said, “Oh yeah, we were watching the Hungarians, so yay Hungary.”

Victor Orbán, Hungary’s Prime Minister, has become a role model for the Republican right. He spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last August in Dallas, around the same time Orbán declared that Hungary must remain racially white, as Hungarians do not want to become “people of mixed races.”

After DeSantis’s 20-point victory in November, the magazine Hungarian Conservative published this headline: “Florida’s ‘Orbán’ On His Way To The White House.” Dozens of articles have been written about the similarities between Hungary’s authoritarian leader and Florida’s governor. Both support bans on gender studies at colleges and universities, both have expanded government control over school curricula, both punish corporations for defying their political agenda, and both use religion as a cudgel to inflict pain on LGBT students and adults.

That’s why the decisions you make go well beyond Broward. Are we really going to make policy in Broward based on HB 1557? It’s having tragic effects on the mental wellbeing of gay and trans youth, it’s driving teachers from the profession … but Moms For Liberty are happy. So are white nationalists, and neo-Nazis, and the Proud Boys. And it’s at the heart of DeSantis’s campaign to energize that extreme MAGA base he will need to secure the Republican nomination for 2024.

As school boards have tried to appease DeSantis, his agenda has just gotten more oppressive. Appeasement doesn’t work with bullies or fascists. Just ask Neville Chamberlain.

If you think my language is too strong, it became clear at last week’s CPAC conference that the Republican campaign against trans kids could be the beginning of a fascist campaign to erase trans people from public life altogether. When a speaker declared that, “For the good of society … transgenderism must be eradicated from the public entirely, at every level,” the crowd cheered.

Now see what Hitler wrote in a letter dated September 16, 1919, to a soldier named Adolph Gemlich: “Rational antisemitism must lead to the eradication of the privileges of the Jews, with the final objective the total removal of all Jews from our midst.”

In his last-ditch effort to escape the gallows, Holocaust organizer Adolph Eichmann tried to shift responsibility for the deaths of millions of Jews to his superiors, claiming he was only complying with their orders. I’m asking this school board to stop complying.

Show all of our students, our parents, our state, that this body has the strength, integrity and decency to stand up to the Tallahassee bullies. Broward schools won’t “just follow orders” and throw our LGBT students under the bus. We will not help you marginalize our kids by erasing them from our schools. You’ve inflicted enough pain already. It stops here. It stops now. It stops in Broward.

Sincerely, Marc

Paige