Speaker 1: Florida Republicans have passed a disgusting and I would argue,
completely unenforceable pronoun bill, pronoun bill as well as a ban on diversity programs. Now,
I'm going to give you the details and I'll tell you why this doesn't make any sense. But if you
zoom out just a little bit, remember we've been talking about this Florida fiasco for
months now. And aside from being completely morally bankrupt and substantively vapid,
it also seems to be the wrong strategic approach politically for Florida Republicans to focus so
much on Disney's bad and woke is bad and trans is bad because they don't really have the voters on
their side to a great degree with these issues. But okay, this is what they've decided to do. So
what have they done? The Associated Press reports Florida Republicans passed bill on pronoun usage
at school ban on diversity programs. And you got me saying, have they banned a part
of speech completely? No. They're talking about gender pronouns that differ from biological sex.
And I'll tell you the exact wording in a moment. Florida Republicans on Wednesday approved bills
to ban diversity programs in colleges and prevent students and teachers from being required to use
pronouns that don't correspond to someone's sex. Built on top priorities of Republican Governor Ron
DeSantis. The two proposals were given final passage by the Republican supermajorities.
DeSantis is expected to sign it. Okay, so what does it do? The Senate Wednesday voted to expand
the law. Critics called Don't say gay. A major calling card of DeSantis with a sweeping bill
that prevents school staffers or students from being required to refer to people by pronouns
that don't respond to correspond to the person's sex. It also bans classroom instruction on gender
identity and sexual orientation up to the eighth grade, legally reinforcing the DeSantis move
to prohibit such lessons in all grades. It also strengthens the system in which people can lodge
challenges against school books. Another dissent ammonia, the sanctimonious initiative. All right.
So there is a problem here. Okay. And I know many of you already identify it. The only way to know
whether you are using the pronouns that correspond to biological birth sex is to know what genitals
someone has. How on earth would teachers ascertain that? And so when you say, well, you just can't
force the teachers to use pronouns that don't correspond to the genitalia of the individual,
and I guess they're saying the birth genitalia. Right. There's another story when you talk about
gender affirming surgery, but let's not even delve into that right now. You're saying you
can't require them. Well, how is anyone to know whether what is being asked of them with
regard to pronouns matches the genitals without taking a look at the genitals or what? Requiring
a birth certificate. So obviously, this is a provision that's discriminatory to the trans
community. It's harmful to the trans community. It's also completely impractical in every single
way because you're telling teachers in order to know. About whether the pronouns you're using
are the right ones. You, I guess, have to ascertain biological sex by looking at people.
Are they supposed to ask students for medical records before addressing them by the correct
pronouns? So this is not only a ridiculous virtue signal against trans people, for the anti-trans
community to look and say, Oh, we like what you're doing. It is a logistical and practical nightmare
for educators, and it's not feasible to enforce. And of course it goes against the very principles
of inclusivity and acceptance that we should promoting and be promoting in our schools. This
doesn't mean, by the way, this doesn't mean or it doesn't even relate in any way to whether someone
born biologically male who identifies as a woman should be allowed to be on the girls wrestling
team. That's a totally separate question. It has nothing to do with this. Now, I also
briefly want to talk about the ban on diversity programs, because that's also a part of this.
Even though it's less cartoonish, although still destructive, it's equally concerning. Diversity
programs are designed to promote inclusivity and to promote understanding among different cultures
and communities. The right loves to say that those programs actually suppress speech, bully people,
etc. To the extent that you give me an example of that, I am on your side and I will be against
it. You all know if you've been listening to this program for a while that I don't go for
that stuff when the left goes too far as the right loves to say, I'll just tell you. Yeah,
I don't agree with this. This is not in the spirit of progressivism. This is not in the spirit of
libertarian progressivism, of the style that I and so many other progressive support. Those
instances are relatively rare. And when you say no diversity programs whatsoever, you're banning
programs that actually provide significant value and they promote understanding among different
groups in a way that is completely not only it's not only harmless, it's a positive thing.
This is what Florida Republicans are now focused on. I believe that not only is it wrong morally,
but it's also a strategic mistake and that they're overplaying their hand. That second part,
it will take some time for us to get an answer. Are they overplaying their hand? We will soon see.
But one of the next questions which was raised by someone in our audience is what follows this. And
one possibility is that they go after LGBT teachers. I want to talk about that next.