In multiple states this election year, voters signaled an overall shift away from “parents’ rights” issues, fear mongering, and partisan politics, including the rejection of anti-trans candidate for North Carolina governor Mark Robinson as well as other state and local educational posts.
North Carolina voters also rejected Moms for Liberty-endorsed Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Michele Morrow, whose campaign and record was nearly equally as disturbing as Robinson’s
Morrow’s anti-LGBTQ record included a defamatory rant against opponent Mo Green, who received the endorsement of state LGBTQ organization Equality North Carolina. Morrow falsely and dangerously misrepresented the plus symbol in LGBTQ+ in a post on Twitter/X: “NEWSFLASH…the ‘+’ includes PEDOPH*L*A!!” The American Psychological Association notes that the plus is often added “to recognize those not captured within or represented by the acronym LGBTQ,” including asexual, intersex, and nonbinary people.
Michele Morrow launches an anti-LGBTQ rant against opponent Mo Green. (Credit: QnotesCarolinas)
In a recorded clip on her website and YouTube, Morrow addressed a school board, laying bare her values under the guise of “protecting our children.”
“We are talking about trying to figure out how to make our children be as successful as possible, and I am sure that that is your goal. And what we have been called tonight is what they’re claiming we’re saying to children. We’re having an adult conversation,” Morrow said. “There are not children in this room. We aren’t going into the schools and calling them names. They call us Marxist, and hateful, and bigots, and everything else under the sun. Well, let me tell ‘ya: Less than five percent of the entire population of North Carolina identifies as LGBTQ. You guys all claim you want democracy. You know what democracy is? It’s the majority plus one! It’s 50 plus one! You know what? More than 50 percent of the people in this state claim that they believe in God – almighty God, who made us male and female. God who made marriage between a man and a woman. God who said that we must protect our children.”
Morrow had also falsely labeled the public schools she wanted to lead as “indoctrination centers,” while her record included participation in the January 6insurrection, and called for the execution of former President Barack Obama. Political comedy channel The Good Liarsheld Morrow accountable for her actions.
The Good Liars confronts Michele Morrow over threatening Tweets she made against former President Barack Obama. (Credit: The Good Liars on X)
In a viral clip, Jason Selvig approached Morrow with printed copies of her threatening tweets under the guise of requesting an autograph. After stroking her ego, he read the now-deleted social media posts back to her, word for word, before making a hasty escape.
Morrow ultimately lost the race to Mo Green, who captured just over 51 percent of the vote.
Maurice Green received a majority of the vote, 51.1%, in the race for North Carolina Superintendent, narrowly defeating opponent Michele Morrow.
Green served as superintendent to North Carolina’s third-largest school district, Guilford County Schools, and was Executive Director of Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, which “has invested more than $691 million into North Carolina” to “address the impact of racism ingrained in state institutions — including schools — and support ideas aimed at mitigating hate’s effect on policy and people.”
Green’s platform includes a promise to “celebrate the good in public education” and “ensure safe, secure learning environments,” and opposes The Parental Bill of Rights, which bans discussion about gender identity and sexuality in K-4 classrooms, and requires that schools out students to their parents if they request a change to their name or pronouns.
Green, nominee for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction, holds a news conference. (Credit: NC Newsline)
“Every child deserves to learn, and every staff member deserves to work, in an environment that is safe, welcoming, and inclusive,” Green said.
State’s Most Populous County Wakes up, Rejects Several Anti-Trans Candidates
Also in North Carolina, three of four Moms for Liberty-endorsed candidates were defeated in races for Wake County Board of Education:
District 5: Incumbent Lynn Edmonds “soundly” defeated Ted Hills. During her first term, Edmonds “voted, alongside the board’s six other Democrats, to bring the school system into compliance with new, federally-mandated protections for LGBTQ students.” Hills opposed the Title IX updates.
District 6: Sam Hershey, an anti-book book ban advocate, beat challenger Josh Points “by a 40-point margin.” Hershey voiced support for compliance with federally-mandated Title IX updates.
District 8: Lindsay Mahaffey, who was endorsed by the Equality North Carolina PAC, was elected to her fifth term. Her opponent Elizabeth McDuffie rejected Title IX protections for transgender students and campaigned alongside Michele Morrow.
District 3 incumbent Wing Ng was the only anti-LGBTQ candidate elected, but his victory was narrow. INDY Weekreports that Equality North Carolina PAC-endorsed Jordyn Blaise lost “by a razor-thin margin of just about one point.” Lastly, Toshiba Rice won her bid for reelection to District 4. Rice voted to support compliance with the Biden-Harris Administration’s federal Title IX updates.
Equality Victories in the Sunshine State
While Florida’s 60 percent supermajority requirement led to narrow losses for abortion rights (57.2 percent voted in favor of expanding access to abortion) and legalized recreational marijuana (55.9 were in favor), a GOP-supported proposed constitutional amendment that would have led to partisan school board races also lost. In their rejection of this amendment, the League of Women Voters of Florida and other opponents said, “schools should not be politicized and everyone should be welcome at schools regardless of party affiliation.”
Katie Blaxberg defeated DeSantis and M4L-endorsed Stacy Geier for Pinellas County School Board by over four percentage points (52.06% to 47.94%).
Michelle Bonczek bested Mark Cioffi, who was endorsed by DeSantis, by nearly 10 percent (54.99% to 45.01%).
Meanwhile, Equality Florida (EQFL) saw significant growth in their political representation. With the organization’s leadership on the ground, they doubled the number of LGBTQ legislators in the statehouse, one of their explicit goals for the election. But they didn’t only make gains in the statehouse. All told, more than 85 EQFL-endorsed candidates, including eight members of the LGBTQ community, were elected to office.
“In the fight against extremist takeovers of Florida school boards, voters rejected DeSantis’s culture wars and divisive agenda,” Equality Florida said. “This year, we delivered DeSantis and Moms for Liberty a string of humiliating school board defeats. Nearly two-thirds of DeSantis-backed school board candidates lost their races this year. Meanwhile, over 72% of Equality Florida Action PAC endorsed school board candidates won their elections. This progress is proof of the power of resistance. We are turning the tide, even when it feels like everything is stacked against us.”
Propelling the “Relentless Flow of Acceptance”
Journalist and transgender rights activist Erin Reed has been tracking the resultsof down-ballot races throughout the country.
“Even in affirming states, school boards can make life difficult for LGBTQ+ students,” Reed wrote in her newsletter, “or, in states with anti-trans and anti-queer legislation, they can push back against restrictive policies.”
Erin Reed and fiancée Montana State Rep. Zooey Zephyr celebrate after Reed wins a GLAAD Media Award for her Erin in the Morning blog. (Credit: ErinInTheMorning on X)
Reed’s reports on social media include LGBTQ news with an emphasis on transgender rights. In a post-election message of support to her trans and queer readers, she drew parallels between the 2024 election and the fight for marriage equality in the early 2000s that pushed on despite setbacks.
After former President George W. Bush was reelected in 2004, “he delivered a State of the Union speech where he said, for instance, that he will enshrine a constitutional ban on gay marriage into United States law,” Reed said. “And I could stop there. I could say that there are people that likely did stop there, that saw this and said that there was no future, but you cannot stop the relentless flow of time. You cannot stop the relentless flow of acceptance.”
The 2024 election is consequential for LGBTQ people and our equality. LGBTQ voters are poised again to be the decisive edge in close-contest states in the presidential race as well as the elections that will determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.
But it’s not just about choosing candidates. Here are issues and proposals up for a vote that will have an impact on the LGBTQ community, including in the battleground states and states that have passed legislation targeting LGBTQ people.
According to the results of a GLAAD and Pathfinder poll released earlier this year, abortion is the second most important issue for LGBTQ voters in the 2024 election. LGBTQ people can and do get pregnant and need reproductive health care. Many of the same states with abortion bans also have enacted bans and restrictions on transgender health care.
According to the results of a GLAAD and Pathfinder poll conducted earlier this year, abortion is the second most important issue in the 2024 election.
Ten states have ballot initiatives to protect access to abortion, including the battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada, as well as Colorado, Florida, Maryland, and New York. Nebraska has competing ballot initiatives – one expanding access to abortion, one restricting it to the first trimester of pregnancy. Since the Dobbs decision, voters in every state with ballot initiatives have passed expanded protections and access to reproductive care – eight elections and counting.
Arizona
Proposition 139: Amend the state constitution to define as fundamental the right to abortion“through fetal viability,” or about 24 weeks. Current law allows for abortions “until 15 weeks of pregnancy.” In April, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled 4-2 to uphold an 1864 law “prohibiting abortion in most circumstances except to save the life of the mother.” The following month, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs cast her signature to revoke the law.
“This election is more than a presidential election. In Arizona, like many states, the outcomes of these ballot initiatives could drastically change rights and freedoms granted to individuals in our state including the quality and availability of reproductive health care for Arizona families,” said Michael Soto, president of Equality Arizona.
“Make sure you don’t forget to vote on the ballot initiatives like Prop 139, in fact the most effective way to vote this year in Arizona is to start with the propositions and work your way up to the presidential race. Our rights and freedoms are on the line, and your vote will matter more than it ever has in this election.”
Arizona’s U.S. Senate race features Rep. Ruben Gallego and former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. Lake has promised to make Arizona a “sanctuary state” for the unborn, called abortion the “ultimate sin” and endorsed a federal ban on abortion before flipping support. Rep. Gallego supports Prop 139 and “restoring abortion access” in Arizona.
GLAAD has documented the LGBTQ records of Gallego and Lake.
Colorado
Amendment 79: Protect Coloradans’ right to abortion and prevent governmental interference, denial, or discrimination. Allow for Medicare and other state-funded insurance to “cover abortion services.” As a constitutional amendment, this proposal requires at least 55% voter approval to pass.
Florida
Amendment 4: Add abortion protections to the Florida Constitution’s Declaration of Rights. A “yes” vote would enshrine abortion protections “before viability” or to protect the health of the patient. Unchanged will be a current provision requiring parents “to be notified before a minor can receive an abortion.” Recent polling shows 76% of voters expressed support for the proposal. Florida currently has a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, one of the strictest bans in the country, as well as a ban on health care for transgender people, which can currently be enforced as the law is appealed.
Florida’s incumbent Sen. Rick Scott is running for re-election to the U.S. Senate. Scott has backed Florida-based anti-LGBTQ extremist book banning group Moms for Liberty, and opposes Florida’s Amendment 4.
In recent years, The Hill reports, Floridians passed amendments restoring voting rights to felons who have served their time, voted to increase the minimum wage, and legalized medicinal marijuana.
In 2023, Illinois’ legislature passed, and Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law, a bill enshrining the right to abortion and maternity care. The bill was sponsored by out state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, who said: “While all around us opponents are using misinformation and misogyny to justify attacks on bodily autonomy, I’m proud that here in Illinois, we’ve declared unequivocally that we trust patients and doctors to make these decisions safely and privately.”
Maryland
Question 1: Enshrine reproductive freedom rights within the Maryland Constitution’s Declaration of Rights. The right to reproductive freedom includes, “the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end one’s own pregnancy.” A simple majority is needed for the measure to pass.
Maryland’s race for U.S. Senate includes former Gov. Larry Hogan, who vetoed a bill to expand access to abortion in 2022. His opponent, Prince George’s County Chief Executive Angela Alsobrooks, said Hogan would be the “51st vote” swinging the Senate majority to the party that would not vote to restore the rights of Roe nationwide.
Alsobrooks told the Associated Press “there will never be a vote as to whether or not we should codify Roe in federal law if the Republicans are in the majority… they have made it clear, they’ve essentially declared war on reproductive freedoms, and we know that that vote would never happen.”
Missouri
Amendment 3: Enshrine reproductive freedom rights, including “prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions” into the state constitution through an amendment. Previously threatened with removal from the November ballot, the Supreme Court of Missouri “reversed a lower court ruling against the measure.”
Incumbent Sen. Josh Hawley, who is running for re-election this year, lied about Amendment 3 while also attacking essential health care for transgender people that’s supported by every major medical association.
“Hawley’s fear mongering on trans health care for youth referenced practices that are already largely restricted in Missouri,” St. Louis Public Radio reported. “In 2023, the state passed a sweeping ban on gender-affirming care for minors.”
Supporters of Amendment 3, including the ACLU and Hawley’s Senate race opponent, Lucas Kunce, called Hawley’s remarks false, outlandish, and an attempt to distract voters, KSMU reports.
Hawley’s LGBTQ record is documented on the GLAAD Accountability Project. Hawley is among five senators who voted to object to the Electoral College counts showing Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, casting their votes hours after the deadly insurrection at the United States Capitol. Hawley went on to co-sponsor a bill targeting transgender students. The five senators voting to protect Trump’s lie, then targeting transgender youth, are Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Montana
CI-128: Amend the state constitution to enshrine reproductive rights, “including the right to abortion,” and to “travel for medical services” without government interference “up until the point of fetal viability.”
Montana’s race for U.S. Senate is among those that will determine whether the Senate remains in the control of the pro-equality majority.
In a September 30 debate, incumbent Sen. Jon Tester supported the ballot measure and a person’s fundamental right to make private health care decisions: “I believe women should be able to make their own health care decisions. That’s the bottom line. It shouldn’t be the federal government. It shouldn’t be a bureaucrat. It shouldn’t be a judge,” Tester said. Tester also supports federal legislation to protect abortion access before fetal viability — generally considered to be around 24 weeks, according to Montana Public Radio.
U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy is anti-abortion and calls Tester’s stance extreme. Sheehy has said “I am proudly pro-life.”
Nevada
Question 6: The Right to Abortion Initiative. A “yes” vote supports providing for a state constitutional right to an abortion.
“Abortions in Nevada are currently legal up to 24 weeks after the start of pregnancy and after 24 weeks if a physician believes the pregnant person’s life or health is at risk,” the Nevada Current reports
“Those protections were put in place via a citizen-driven referendum passed by voters in 1990 and would require a direct vote of the people to change. Question 6 would establish abortion as a fundamental right in the state constitution, which also requires a vote of the people to amend.”
“This doubles down on the protections on statute,” Lindsey Harmon, president of Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom told the Current. “It makes it twice as hard to repeal or amend the referendum.”
Incumbent Sen. Jacky Rosen is running for her second term in the Senate and supports Question 6. Her opponent, retired Army Capt. Sam Brown has said he is “pro-life,” that he’s “not for changing existing law,” and in 2022 told the Reno Gazette-Journal that he will “continue to protect life by voting against any federal funding of abortion and by voting to confirm justices who protect life.”
GLAAD has documented the LGBTQ records of Rosen and Brown, here.
The Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling overturning Roe v. Wade revealed that marriage equality under Obergefell v. Hodges is far from safe. And while the Respect for Marriage Act would protect same-sex marriages that have already taken place legally, it does not “prevent states from refusing to license the unions.” In order to enshrine these rights, the following states have proposed legislation that would protect marriage equality:
California
Proposition 3: Repeal the now infamous Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot initiative defining “marriage as a union between one man and one woman.” A “yes” vote would establish as fundamental the right to marry. Prop 8 was overturned in the U.S. Supreme Court case Hollingsworth v. Perry, in 2013.
Vice President and former California Attorney General Kamala Harris officiates the wedding ceremony (2013) for the lead plaintiffs in a case that led to the overturning of the state’s same-sex marriage ban. (Credit: MSNBC)
Colorado
Amendment J: Remove the ban on same-sex marriage in the Colorado Constitution. Currently, the state constitution still defines marriage as “only a union of one man and one woman,” wording that was nullified with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell decision. Justice Clarence Thomas has called on Obergefell to be “reconsidered” in his concurrence overthrowing Roe.
“Marriage has been many things throughout history, but for queer people, it’s always been about more than just a legal union—it’s been a defiant act of love and resistance.” said Jax Gonzalez, political director at One Colorado, the state’s leading LGBTQ advocacy organization.
“The Obergefell decision was a monumental step forward, but with the fall of Roe, we know we can’t rely on Supreme Court precedent to protect the freedom to marry. Removing the ban on same-sex marriage from the Colorado Constitution isn’t just about love or legal protection—it’s about affirming that our love, our dignity, and our equality are not up for debate. We owe it to the generations who fought before us, and to the future we’re building, to ensure these rights are secure.”
Of particular note: One Colorado reported that no-anti transgender initiatives made it to the November ballot. This comes after an anti-LGBTQ political action committee announced in August that they failed to collect enough signatures to advance anti-transgender legislation onto the 2024 ballot.
According to a report by The Williams Institute, more than 210,000 transgender adults could “face barriers to voting this fall” because their forms of identification don’t match their gender. State agencies in Missouri and Texas have removed protocols for trans people to correct their birth certificates. Ballot measures this year are targeting ways candidates appear on the ballot and can campaign.
Among the higher profile state ballot initiatives is Ohio’s Issue 1, which aims to fix the current manipulation of maps designed to favor one party over another (gerrymandering).
Ohio Issue 1: Establish a 15-member Ohio Citizens Redistricting Commission composed of five each of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. Currently, the redistricting commission is comprised of politicians. Issue 1 would mandate politicians be excluded, along with lobbyists and political consultants.
Equality Ohio explained the measure to its followers on TikTok and Instagram: “Gerrymandering leads to extreme legislation—it hurts LGBTQ+ Ohioans, period.”https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAZJKfVyS03/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=14&wp=1080&rd=https%3A%2F%2Fglaad.org&rp=%2Fvoting-for-equality-lgbtq-related-proposals-on-the-ballot-this-year%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A336%2C%22ls%22%3A193%2C%22le%22%3A193%7D
Gerrymandered maps have helped create an extremist supermajority in the Ohio state legislature that last year passed a combination bill banning medically necessary health care for transgender youth and banning trans youth from school sports. Ohio has successfully worked around the gerrymandered supermajority with ballot measures, including two measures that helped codify the right to reproductive health care last year.
In August 2023, Ohio voters passed a ballot measure that protected a majority vote for ballot measures, then in November 2023, voters passed an amendment to add abortion rights to the state constitution, with robust voter turnout for an off-year election. Extremist lawmakers opposed both measures.
Signal Cleveland spelled out the stakes of Issue 1: “Under the current maps, Republicans hold about 66% of Ohio’s congressional and state legislative seats – giving them a veto-proof majority in the General Assembly – although their share of the vote is closer to 56%.”
If Ohio voters pass Issue 1, the state would join Michigan and Wisconsin, which have successfully broken down partisan gerrymandering, ensuring accurate representation in the state’s voting districts.
Additional states with measures about voting procedures and methods include:
Arizona
Proposition 133: Update the state constitution to “require partisan primary elections for partisan offices,” thus preventing all candidates from running in the same primary. Under the proposed amendment, political parties would nominate their own candidates to open positions, as has already been the practice.
Proposition 134: Establish within the state constitution an amendment requiring citizens pursuing a ballot measure to gather a percentage of signatures from every legislative district; 10% for statutory amendments and 15% for statewide initiatives.
Proposition 137: Replace term limits for state Supreme Court justices and superior court judges with “terms of good behavior.” If passed, this proposal would strip voters of the right to decidewhether or not to retain state Supreme Court justices. “Any justices on the November ballot would also automatically stay in office if the measure passes, even if voters choose to reject them.”
Proposition 140: Create open primary elections, requiring “all candidates for a specific office,” regardless of political affiliation, to “run against each other in a single primary election.” Lawmakers would then have the option to establish “a top-two general election featuring the top primary candidates,” or a ranked-choice voting system in the general elections “featuring the top primary candidates.”
Colorado
Proposition 131 (Initiative 310): Eliminate partisan primaries and place all qualified candidates“on the same primary ballot.” The four candidates with the top number of votes would move on to the November general election, which would ask voters to rank them based on their “order of preference.”
Florida
Amendment 1: Require school board candidates to list their party affiliation on the ballot, starting with the November 2026 general election.
Amendment 7: Amend the state constitution to limit voting to U.S. citizens who are 18 years of age or older. In addition, the proposal would “prohibit the ranking of candidates by limiting voters to a single vote per candidate or issue,” and advance one winner from the primary elections to the general election.
Montana
CI-126 and CI-127: CI-126 would create ranked-choice primaries for candidates running for “governor, lieutenant governor, state executives, state legislators, and congressional offices.” Following the election, the top-four candidates would advance to the general election, “regardless of party.” Meanwhile, CI-127 would require candidates for the following offices to win a majority of the vote, rather than a plurality, in order to secure the election: “governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, state legislature, and congressional offices.”
Wisconsin
Citizenship Voting Requirement Amendment: Amends the state constitution to stipulate “that only U.S. citizens who are 18 years old or older can vote in federal, state, local, or school elections.” Current language states “every” U.S. citizen can vote, but the proposal would change this to “only.” If passed, the measure would capitalize on fear mongering about noncitizen voting, “but noncitizens cannot legally use their IDs or licenses to register and vote.”
To learn more about statewide initiatives that will appear on your ballot, we recommend familiarizing yourself with them through nonpartisan sites like Ballotpedia (also linked from the title of each ballot proposal).
The results of a new survey published by Knight Foundation in partnership with Langer Research Associates shows that book bans, and the people who promote them, are losing support. The recent primary election results in Florida, home base for book-banning Moms for Liberty, show even more rejection at the ballot box.
First, the survey: Of more than 4,500 adults sampled, two thirds oppose book bans in public schools, and 78% trust school staff to stock shelves with “appropriate” titles. And although 60% of respondents view “appropriateness” as a reason to place restrictions on book access, Book Riot’s Kelly Jensen notes, “‘appropriateness’ here is not about topics like diversity, queerness, social-emotional learning, climate change, and other issues that have been the target of the book banning agenda.”
While Americans largely share a distaste for book bans and 23% are aware that these kinds of censorship efforts are happening in their community, only three percent have gotten involved, with two percent fighting to retain challenged titles and one percent attempting to ban them. In other words, says Jensen, an incredibly small subset of people are “instigating the astronomical rise in book bans nationwide.”
Diminishing Returns
Both Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Moms for Liberty took major hits during last week’s election. Eleven out of 23 DeSantis-backed candidates lost their races.
While Moms for Liberty’s list of school board endorsements in Florida somewhat differs from that of DeSantis, the results match a trend that started with recent elections: Campaigning on book bans is a losing platform. Of M4L’s list of endorsements in Florida, only three candidates won. Six lost their campaigns, while an additional five will be headed to a runoff election in November.
Of note in Indian River County: Candidates endorsed by DeSantis and M4L lost their races. Indian River is the birthplace of M4L. Stitching an article from the Associated Press, author and social media personality Jeffrey Marsh said, “even the people of Florida don’t want school board members who harass LGBTQ kids, who ban books, who push Christian nationalist agendas in schools.”
Florida and the Waning Influence of Moms for Liberty
Last week’s losses come after years of coordinated assault against books by and about LGBTQ people and people of color. According to a PEN America report, July-December 2023 saw more book bans than the entire 2022-23 school year. In Florida alone, there were 3,135 bans in 11 school districts.
Declared that Florida “will not comply” and would “fight back” against recent Title IX rule updates announced by the Biden administration, which include specific protections for LGBTQ students and prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
While calling book ban accusations against him a “hoax” and stating that Florida book bans are a “false narrative,” DeSantis walked back earlier book ban efforts under the “Don’t Say LGBTQ” law (House Bill 1557). Florida now limits book challenges to one title per month for “residents who don’t have a child in school.”
Spoke at Moms for Liberty’s 2023 national summit, and appointed M4L co-founder Bridget Ziegler to an oversight board he created to take on Disneyafter the company critiqued DeSantis’ anti-LGBTQ agenda. Ziegler and her husband Christian were later investigated as part of a rape allegation from a woman they had a sexual relationship with.
Signed House Bill 1557 into law in 2022. The legislation, informally known as “Don’t Say LGBTQ” or “Don’t Say Gay,” initially forbade discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in K-3 public schools. The following year, DeSantis expanded the ban to all grades. Said DeSantis, “Schools are not there for you to try to go on some ideological joyride at the expense of our kids.”
In 2023, DeSantis and the Board of Governors appointed several members to the New College of Florida Board of Trustees. This month, passersby discovered that the college tossedhundreds of LGBTQ-inclusive titles from their dismantled Gender and Diversity Center.
Moms for Liberty appears to be trying to rebuild after its trouncing at the polls in 2023 and 2024, and devastating personal scandals against its co-founder and her disgraced husband. M4L has invited former President Donald Trump to speak at their annual summit this week, Trump’s second time addressing the group.
