Jill Biden has sparked outrage by claiming that Florida is following the path of Nazi Germany and putting democracy itself at risk with its attempts to keep “pornographic” books out of classrooms.
The first lady was sent on a layover trip to California over the weekend as Biden’s campaign attempts to make up its deficit in the polls as the clock ticks toward the November general election.
And he tried to survey the battlefield for his Democratic audience, who had paid up to $100,000 a ticket, telling them that the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act was a step toward dictatorship.
“History teaches us that democracies do not disappear overnight,” he said. ‘They disappear slowly and subtly in silence. A book that prohibits a judicial decision, a Do Not Say Gay law.
“I was told that before World War II, Berlin was the center of LGBTQ culture in Europe. One group of people loses their rights and then another, and then another, until one morning you wake up and you no longer live in a democracy.’
First Lady Jill Biden compared Florida’s attempts to protect children to Germany’s drift 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, at Classical High School on March 28, 2022.
The Nazis tore books by “degenerate” authors from library shelves and set them on fire
He spoke days after Florida settled a lawsuit over the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill that Gov. Ron DeSantis says is a “huge victory” for his conservative agenda in the Sunshine State.
The 2022 law banned teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade, and was expanded to all grades last year.
In defense of the law, two years ago DeSantis held a press conference to show off books that parents had found in Florida school libraries.
Some included illustrations depicting minors engaging in sexual activity and instructions on how to masturbate, perform sexual acts, or download apps that facilitate “casual sexual relations.”
And he harshly criticized the ‘deception’ that removing books from the classroom would be a form of ‘book banning’.
“I just think that parents, when they send their kids to school, shouldn’t have to worry about trash in the schools,” the Republican governor said.
Launching his re-election campaign in January, the president said Donald Trump “echoed the exact same language used in Nazi Germany.”
But many on social media were disgusted with his wife’s attempt to compare her Republican opponents to the Nazi regime.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis showed a shocking video at the beginning of his Wednesday press conference featuring explicit sexual content illustrated and detailed in children’s books found in several Florida schools.
Among the books DeSantis cited was Flamer, which depicts through illustrations and descriptions young boys at a summer camp performing sexual acts.
DeSantis’ roughly six-minute video shows pages from some of the books, some of which include graphic illustrations like the one above describing how to use a butt plug.
The First Lady was congratulated on her speech in Los Angeles by her daughter Ashley and Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign.
But the reaction on social media was less impressed by the First Lady’s Nazi allusions.
“Enough of the Nazi references,” one wrote, “Every time these people compare their political opposition to the Nazis, they diminish the horrors suffered by the real victims of the Third Reich.” This rhetoric is disgusting.”
—Did you ever mention the Jews? asked one, ‘I didn’t hear it. Are you 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 elementary school library,” added a third.
‘Do Democrats think Hustler magazine should be available to children? Why is this such a difficult concept?
The first lady praised her husband’s contribution to LGBT rights in her speech to the Human Rights Campaign in Los Angeles, warning that “MAGA extremists are trying to erase these hard-won gains.”
“Thanks to President Biden, marriage equality is now the law of the land,” he added.
‘He ended the ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood. He has made it possible for trans-Americans to serve openly and honorably in the military. And he strongly opposes conversion therapy.
‘There are victories that would have been unimaginable just a few decades ago: being free to walk down the street as yourself. Coworkers using their chosen name and pronouns.
“MAGA Republicans are fighting battles over our options, our future, and trying to drag us back down a dark and dangerous path.”
But his speech was interrupted by repeated boos from protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Dr. Biden, I am a queer Jew calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire,” one shouted as a number of protesters were chased away by security.
States including Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and North Carolina have used Florida’s law as a model for passing bans on classroom instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation.
Some teachers said they were unsure whether they could mention or show a photo of their same-sex partner in the classroom, and critics said that in some cases even lines mentioning sexual orientation were removed from school musicals.
But Florida reached a settlement earlier this month with plaintiffs who had challenged the law in court, specifying that what applies to LGBTQ people also applies to straight people.
The Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law by its critics, was signed in 2022 by Governor Ron DeSantis and caused a storm across the country.
The law also triggered ongoing legal battles between DeSantis and Disney over control of Walt Disney World’s governing district in central Florida after DeSantis took control of the government in what the company described as retaliation for his opposition to the legislation.
And it also does not apply to library books that are not used for classroom instruction.
In a statement, DeSantis’ office described the agreement as a “major victory” that kept the principles of the law intact.
“We fought hard to ensure that this law could not be smeared in the courts, as it was in the public arena by the media and large corporate players,” said Florida State Attorney Ryan Newman.
“We have emerged victorious and Florida classrooms will continue to be a safe place under the Parents’ Education Rights Act.”