On Thursday, MSNBC host Chris Hayes said on his show “All In” that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) would give freedom to his family due to a Florida law banning gender reassignment therapy for minors. He said he believed he was infringing.
Here’s a partial transcript:
Hayes: Ron DeSantis’ dystopia. The authoritarian vision is most evident in the bill he just signed yesterday. This prohibits all gender-affirming care for all minors in Florida, i.e. anyone under the age of 18. The law also authorizes state courts to change custody agreements if a child is receiving, or is at risk of receiving, gender-affirming care. In other words, it separates the child from the parent.
Telling parents how they can or cannot raise their children is one of the most authoritarian acts a government can do. And now, that’s exactly what Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida, and the conservative movement that supports it in general, are doing for purely ideological and punitive purposes.
Now, the nasty irony here, and one that I can’t quite get over, is that the right-wing movement that gave us this new law signed yesterday has been with the people who were screaming about this very thing. that they are in the same group. Parental rights have been granted for years in the midst of a pandemic. I can say if my child wears a mask, if my child is vaccinated. I need to say whether my child will go to school. And Ron DeSantis was the public face of the movement.
DeSantis (Clip): He wants the government to force kindergarteners to wear masks at school. He believes parents shouldn’t have a say and that should be a government decision. Well, in Florida, parents will be in charge of that decision.
Joe Biden suggests that if you don’t do lockdown policies, quotes suggest you should get out of the way. But let me just say this. If you come in for parental rights in Florida, I stand in your way. I have no intention of running away.
Hayes: What a tough guy. Can you see him pompous? If you aim for custody, he will get in your way. When he tries to tell parents what they can do for their children. Is the very faction of the Republican Party represented by Ron DeSantis and the Florida government demanding and creating a situation where the tough-guy government you saw there wields freedom? I’m going to decide if it’s your child. The people who live in the house you were born and raised in, the people who love your children. What kind of care can I receive? he decides For clarity, care supported and recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Consider what this means. I am talking to my parents and family in Florida. Together as families, parents, and physicians, they are determined that this medical, gender-affirming care is the best care for their children. The kids. You may not like it. But do you know? It doesn’t matter to you, sorry, it’s a goddamn job! To me, that’s what courage means to be free. Freedom, in my family, means that the family decides what medical care their child receives or does not receive. It’s not Ron DeSantis. Not the Republican Party. But in Florida that is no longer the case.
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
