Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed a heckler during a Friday event in South Carolina where he defended parental rights legislation.
“We’re not going to let them impose an agenda on our kids, we’re going to stand up for our kids,” DeSantis said in response after a heckler appeared to shout the word “fascist” at him during his speech. “We’re gonna make sure to do it right. That’s what we’re gonna do!”
DeSantis, who announced his candidacy for president May 24, signed legislation protecting parental rights in Florida in March 2022 which led to a feud with Disney over the entertainment conglomerate’s opposition to the law.
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“Parents have a fundamental right to direct the education and upbringing of their children,” DeSantis said shortly before the heckler interrupted the speech. “The school systems are important, but they’re there to support the community.”
“They’re not there to supersede the rights of parents and what they think is appropriate, and so we’ve enacted protections for parents such as curriculum transparency, so that they have a right to know what books are being used and what curriculum is being taught to their kids,” DeSantis continued.
Following the passage of the bill, Florida schools pulled multiple books on the grounds of having explicit content, including “Gender Queer,” “Let’s Talk About It” and “It’s Perfectly Normal.”
“Unfortunately, there’s bad stuff that’s getting into the schools,” DeSantis said. “There’s pornography that’s getting in the schools, so the parents of had to blow the whistle in Florida.”
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DeSantis also opposed an Advanced Placement course that reportedly contained elements of Critical Race Theory, which holds that America is fundamentally racist, teaches people to view every social interaction and person in terms of race, and seeks to hold groups of people accountable for the actions of their ancestors, and so-called queer theory.
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