
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has been called out for not acknowledging the LGBTQ community when he asked the state to remember the 49 killed when a gunman opened fire in 2016 at Pulse.
Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani wrote on Twitter.
“@GovRonDeSantis has stripped any mention of the #LGBTQ community in remembering #Pulse. This is completely straight-washed and an insult to #HD47. Based on these side-by-side Pulse proclamations, Governor Rick Scott was a better friend to LGBTQ Floridians than DeSantis.”
But reversing course, he issued a “corrected” document before heading to Orlando for a visit to the Pulse memorial.
The new proclamation reads.
“Florida will not tolerate hatred towards the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities.”
DeSantis said he was “not involved” in drafting the first proclamation. His spokesperson, Helen Aguirre Ferré, blamed the omission on a staff error.
DeSantis told reporters,
“When someone said that this wasn’t in there, I said then put it in there. So we fixed it. Sometimes these things happen and you’ve got to correct them.”
When you get called out, THEN you fix it to do damage control, not pay respect.
Meanwhile in other terrible news…
DeSantis signed a bill Friday that will ban “sanctuary cities” in Florida, though the policy is expected to draw a legal skirmish over its constitutionality as it goes into effect next month.
The controversial proposal had been brought before the Legislature before but passed this year in part thanks to DeSantis’ aggressive support. DeSantis made banning “sanctuary cities” a key part of his campaign and met regularly with lawmakers throughout the session to ensure it had the votes to pass.
There are no “sanctuary cities” in Florida.
@GovRonDeSantis has stripped any mention of the #LGBTQ community in remembering #Pulse. This is completely straight-washed and an insult to #HD47.
— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) June 12, 2019
Based on these side-by-side Pulse proclamations, Governor Rick Scott was a better friend to LGBTQ Floridians than DeSantis. pic.twitter.com/2nvUE343XG