Ideas: Professor Omar G. Encarnación Writes “Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Is Part of the State's Long, Shameful History” for Time
Photo by Ted Eytan
In an ideas piece for Time, Omar G. Encarnación, professor of political studies, asserts that Florida’s “long history as America’s breeding ground for toxic anti-gay politics” is pivotal in trying to understand how the state’s “Parental Rights in Education Bill,” which prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools from kindergarten through the third grade, was signed into law last month.
Rather than understanding Florida as the battleground of a contemporary right-wing culture war, Encarnación discusses “Florida’s dark and painful LGBTQ history,” with homophobic legislation spanning back to the 1950s, and the lack of any formal reckoning with that past as crucial in understanding the politics leading to this new law. “In the absence of such a reckoning, history continues to repeat itself in Florida with grave consequences for the state’s reputation, the welfare of its LGBTQ citizens, and even for the American nation as a whole,” he writes.
Post Date: 05-17-2022
Rather than understanding Florida as the battleground of a contemporary right-wing culture war, Encarnación discusses “Florida’s dark and painful LGBTQ history,” with homophobic legislation spanning back to the 1950s, and the lack of any formal reckoning with that past as crucial in understanding the politics leading to this new law. “In the absence of such a reckoning, history continues to repeat itself in Florida with grave consequences for the state’s reputation, the welfare of its LGBTQ citizens, and even for the American nation as a whole,” he writes.
Post Date: 05-17-2022