Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’s rhetoric has spread like wildfire ahead of upcoming midterm elections, with candidates across the U.S. promising to copy Florida’s policies
To Ms. MacKenzie, it all feels like a regression in the fight for equal rights. “It seems like anybody who may be vulnerable to attacks, or maybe needs a little bit of help, are the ones they are going after,” she said.
There is no evidence American children are routinely taught critical race theory, a university-level framework for examining structural racism, much less being regularly entertained by drag queens. But this talk has struck a chord. Chatting with a friend at a Detroit-area mall, Angela Bahu said she was pro-choice and planned to vote for an amendment to the Michigan state constitution enshrining the right to an abortion. But she was opposed to gender identity discussion in schools. “I’m offended by it,” said Ms. Bahu, a 48-year-old retail manager. “You’re either ‘a’ or ‘b’, you’re not ‘c’ or ‘d’.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the crowd before publicly signing HB7, also dubbed the 'Stop Woke' bill, during a news conference at Mater Academy Charter Middle/High School in Hialeah Gardens, Fla., on April 22.In Florida, meanwhile, Mr. DeSantis is doubling down. On the campaign trail, he refers to support for trans rights as a “woke mind virus.” And in a debate this week, he said critical race theory was designed to “teach our kids to hate our country.
With Mr. DeSantis holding a sizable lead in polls, his laws’ opponents are turning to the court system. Some provisions of Stop WOKE are currently blocked by a judge. Joe Saunders, political director with human rights group Equality Florida, contended that Mr. DeSantis’s sudden commitment to culture war was nothing more than a flagrant attempt to build a national base for a presidential run. In the preoccupation with accusing LGBTQ people of pedophilia, he also sees a nod to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which holds that former president Donald Trump’s opponents are secretly part of a Satanic child-trafficking ring.