Florida Republicans advanced a bill Wednesday that would ban teachers from wearing a rainbow flag lapel pin in public schools and universities.

A bill advanced by Florida Republicans on Wednesday would ban teachers and other government employees from displaying a rainbow flag – even wearing one as a lapel pin for a day – but they could hang the full-size flag of any “recognized nation” as long as they want, according to the bill’s sponsor.

Flag displays that depict a “racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint” would be banned from any state or local government building, including public schools and universities, under the bill authored by GOP Rep. David Borrero.

Opponents say the bill is inspired by hate. Borrero said it protects children and it would ban even lapel pins representing the flags of the LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter movements.

“Public classrooms should not be the place where our kids go to be radicalized and evangelized into accepting these partisan, radical ideologies,” Borrero said. “It’s wholly inappropriate to be putting those types of flags in front of public school students and in government buildings.”

  • skweetis@kbin.social
    551·
    10 months ago

    We have to keep repeating this: These people are terrified of reality and think that it is everyone’s job to protect them from the real world. I don’t know if it’s helpful to use the term “snowflake”, but it is apt. Queer people exist in the world. There is no doubt. Trans people exist in the world. The Civil Rights movement occurred and was a big part of US history, as was slavery. If someone’s religion says that ham is a sin, we don’t ban it from school cafeterias. That, as we say, is a you problem. We have got to start hammering home that these people are afraid of reality and want big government to protect them from it. And we also have to start saying “Tough shit. Grow up. Learn to deal with the rest of the world or hide in your basement. I give zero fucks.”

    • lolcatnip@reddthat.comEnglish
      232·
      10 months ago

      They’re not scared of LGBT+ people. They’re just looking for a scapegoat because fascism requires one.

      • skweetis@kbin.social
        19·
        10 months ago

        I didn’t say they were scared of gay people. I said they were scared of reality, which includes gay people, America’s history of racism, global warming, and scientists who know more than they do. These things threaten their identity, which can feel like actual physical danger. Certainly, the powerful and sleazy opportunists have used demonization of out-groups to manipulate the masses since the beginning of time, but I don’t think these maniacs screaming about pronouns at schoolboard meetings are pretending at gay panic as a clever ruse while they calmly and knowingly execute a fascism. My husband recently peeked at the facebook of one of his MAGA cousins and she is a maniac. There is nothing strategic about her behavior. She is wrapped up in an ecstasy of hate, driven by fear. It’s an old joke, but she is literally terrified that trans Muslims are going to sneak across the border to forcibly inject her with 5G. Literally.

        And to be clear: I don’t care what is going on in their heads. It is unknowable. What I care about is how they are understood and defined by the ambient culture, and my recommendation is to relentlessly portray them as scared diaper babies desperate for their government daddy to come and save them from the big scary world.

    • Pons_Aelius@kbin.social
      5·
      10 months ago

      He now, they are just showing their support for either East Timor, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso or Mozambique.

      All of which have them on their national coat of arms.

  • terminhell@lemmy.world
    281·
    10 months ago

    Gotta take all the flags out then. It was about the 5th or 6th grade when I stopped standing for the pledge and national anthem. The fact it’s implied as mandatory is so gross.

  • Pons_Aelius@kbin.social
    261·
    10 months ago

    Flag displays that depict a “racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint”

    IANAL but wouldn’t the stars and stripes also fall under that definition?

    I keep hearing how it is the symbol of democracy, which I am fairly sure is a political ideology.

  • ThePJN@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    91·
    10 months ago

    “…they could hang the full size flag of any recognized nation as long as they want.”

    Hmm. So hanging a bunch of flags from random countries altogether like this would be okay:

    Bunch of emojis of country flags arranged into a halfassed pride flag.

    (There aren’t great colour options in the flag palette and you’d probably have to overlap them too but whatever. You get the idea.)

  • Poggervania@kbin.social
    102·
    10 months ago

    Notice the wording: “racial, sexual orientation and gender, or political ideology viewpoint”

    So if rainbow flags were somehow part of, say, religious iconography… would it be okay in that context?

  • Pratai@lemmy.ca
    81·
    10 months ago

    The cowardservative party, yet again, proving to the world that there’s nothing they’re not afraid of.

  • Snapz@lemmy.world
    4·
    10 months ago

    Florida GOP lawmakers seek to ban THEMSELVES from schools, saying they’re bad for students