Florida Republican Governor, MAGA sycophant turned Trump foe, and likely 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has been on a warpath to turn the Sunshine State into an authoritarian Russian duplicate, with a specific interest in criminalizing LGBTQA+ people in every sick, twisted way he can conceive. Now, it seems that Ron’s reign of terror has reached a truly horrifying height, as one Florida teacher now claims that she is under investigation for showing her class a Disney movie that featured an openly gay character.
According to unsettling new reporting from NBC South Florida, 5th grade teacher Jenna Barbee confirmed that parents, along with a member of the school board reported her to the Florida Department of Education for playing the Disney movie Strange World in her 5th grade class.
The Disney cartoon movie in question came out in 2022 and was the first of its kind to feature an openly gay character.
Barbee said, “None of my students cared or batted an eye, they didn’t even know this was a big deal until the board member and the state made it a big deal. They’re using it against me saying they’re protecting the children and it’s for their safety, but what is this actually showing them,” going on to add that every student in her class had a signed permission slip from their parents, allowing the children to view movies rated PG in the classroom.
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DeSantis’ Sunshine State has grown infamous for the GOP’s far and wide-reaching bans on any book, movie, content, or curriculum that could even be conceived as promoting or even discussing sexuality or gender in Florida’s public schools. The DeSantis and GOP-backed bills pertaining to these matters are intentionally vague and open to interpretation, allowing Right-wing parents and school figures to essentially create their own interpretations of what is and is not allowed in the school systems.
DeSantis also remains deeply embroiled in his ongoing feud with the “woke” Disney company for similar reasons.
Featured image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore, under Creative Commons license 2.0
