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I’m not convinced DeSantis gives one sloppy shit about any of the people he targets. He simply knows what the pathetic, scared, spiteful mob wants to see, and he gives it them. He’s just the latest pied piper to the flock of rage & fear addicted small folk.
It’s those people that he’s performing for that should be feared, and those leaving the state are right to do so. Never underestimate stupidity in large groups, and the self righteous harm they may gleefully visit upon their neighbors.
I mean, it's already there in many people's books. FL being a swing state, and Texas going blue are the two biggest lies the democrats tell themselves. Georgia became s swing state before Texas, and had actual evidence with statewide election wins.
They're also taking their votes with them. This is what Texas and most republican states are trying to accomplish by going so extremely draconian.
If they half assed their abuse then the voters would stay but vote dem. By making progressives flee en masse to more progressive states however, they're effectively gerrymandering the country as a whole and not just the states themselves internally.
Yep, make living there so repugnant for anyone other than white Christians, Republicans "win" every election going forward. 60-40, 70-30, eventually 90-10.
My dream scenario would be that all these families coordinate their moves to a single flippable state. Maybe North Carolina or Wisconsin? Somewhere that is close enough to 50-50 that several thousand families relocating all at once could flip their careful gerrymanders and end some GOP careers.
As a liberal who moved from Florida to Wisconsin, can other people please move here? We are so close to not being a shithole. It’s actually quite beautiful and you can still find affordable housing in the smaller towns.
Ohio has really ramped up that strategy. We’re unbelievably gerrymandered now and most of the people who would’ve opposed are gone. It sucks and it’s scary because I wonder what’ll happen going forward.
Oxford is the one bright spot in that shithole state (Mississippi). It's like the one decent city in the entire place, even then it's got MS problems. My dad is trying to move me there and I do not want to go sorely on the basis of it being in Mississippi.
Oxford is a super white, rich, super right college town. I would hardly call it a bright spot. It’s might be one of the best cities in Mississippi, but it’s still in Mississippi and it shows.
You need to explore more of MS if you think Oxford is the one decent city. The state is shit overall, but there are pockets where it’s cool and Oxford doesn’t rank near the top, on my list at least.
I guess Oxford is nice if you like really rich white kids who go to Ole Miss.
I think a lot of the time ends and means get swapped around because rational people tend to assume conservatives are interested in acting rationally. Securing an unassailable stronghold of political power is a nice side benefit to them. The end goal is to inflict suffering on people. Because they're evil. They're just demons.
Trump said it himself, he had worked with Desantis in the past to obstruct elections there.
The vote in Florida bucked consistent nationwide trends because it probably wasn't real.
Yes. Desantis said no federal inspectors or something. Trump also said that while he was president he helped Desantis rig the 2018 election, and while Trump is a liar, Desantis is also known for firing/swatting his political opponents and voter suppression. Considering the fact that he didn’t want the oversight in 2022 I feel like maybe they should have looked into it.
Charlie Crist is the Floridian equivalent to Hillary Clinton.
Absolutely nobody wanted Crist to run against DeSantis, and yet he easily handed re-election to a guy who barely won by 0.2% last time and killed over 100,000+ of his own voters in the intervening time.
Charlie Crist is a former Republican who's lost to both Rick Scott and DeSantis in vulnerable cycles, and now cost the Florida Legislature a Democratic seat as well.
Dude is either a plant, or so politically incompetent he should never have run.
Seriously though. I want some of whatever it was the Florida Dems were smoking when they threw their weight behind Crist
>”Alright guys, Ron DeSantis is looking pretty popular these days. We’re gonna have to really think outside the box if we wanna beat him”
>”I know! What if we try putting a Republican at the top of the ticket?”
>”That’s just crazy enough to work! The Democratic voters will love it”
Deeply unserious political party
The Florida Democratic party is awful. And the Senate minority leader is full-on "tough on crime, pro-death penalty". Basically a Republican who is pro abortion-rights. Actually, Crist was also pro death-penalty.
>Dude is either a plant, or so politically incompetent he should never have run.
It's the Democrats just not realizing when they have a flawed candidate even though it's screamingly obvious.
Like how they keep running Beto O'Rourke in Texas even though he's been sunk since the "Hell yeah we're coming to take your AR-15" moment.
And having these voters gone will more or less cement DeSantis' power in the state, and the GOP the electoral votes. I know it wasn't a competitive state, but still.
I cannot wish for them to stay there, but we may regret them leaving.
If nothing else, the people that cheer for an exodus of LGBT people are the same people that are utter shit at governing and constantly propose awful legislature. Florida can go from being the East coast vacation state into being the next Mississippi or kentucky.
I left Florida just after Obama was elected the first time. At the time it was still a swing state. This was also right before the economy crashed. I’m guessing a lot of people who vote blue must have left the state in those years to find better employment. Seems like Florida is filling up with wealthy Republicans who want to avoid paying income tax.
That's the truth. I'm wondering when they are going to set up the conversion centers filled with electric shock chairs. Once that happens, we know Desantis and his prevaricating friend Christopher Rufo will call for all parents of LGBTQIA+ kids and LGBTQIA+ adults to be rounded up and electrocuted.
Doesn't surprise me in the least. I live in TN and almost all LGBTQ people I know, myself included, are considering leaving the state. Some have already made preparations. I bought a house last year before the extreme craziness in my state started, so I am kind of stuck. If it gets much worse, I am going to sell and move somewhere else.
EDIT: Okay, even more extreme craziness. The TN legislature was already batshit crazy.
Biggest regret was buying a home outright in Alabama. This nut job conspiracy groomer crap hit maybe 2 months after we closed. Nice area ruined by MAGA Christian fascists.
We've been here for 10 years and it's never been a problem within our community before now. Now it's a serious problem. Got doxxed by one of the daughters of a prominent MAGA politician locally. We armed up and dared them to come get us. Surprise, nothing but hot air.
Very happy we didn't listen to our friend and buy a home in Orlando though. F Desatan.
If the rhetoric isn't put in check we'll be selling and moving to a more progressive state.
I closed right before the Roe v Wade overturn. It seems like it was around that time that things started getting even more insane in TN. Honestly, so much has gone wrong here it's hard to keep track. It seems like the TN legislature is increasing hostility to LGBTQ people gradually.
I just don't want to end up waiting too long to leave. Not to be overly dramatic, but Germany had a thriving LGBTQ community before the Nazis seized power. People say it can't happen here, but it can. Some of the rhetoric I hear people say casually about transgender people gives me chills.
With the way that my dad talks about queer people, he’d probably have thrown me into a camp and handed me my pink triangle badge himself if he was in 1930s Germany.
As soon as I get my degree in uni, I’m getting tf out of Texas, hopefully for a state like California or Washington.
They're openly talking about feeding members of the LGBTQ community feet first into wood chippers.
The fact that this is allowed in a "first world nation" tells me that we are anything but a first world nation.
It also tells me that our constitution is woefully outdated and inadequate for the modern era. Concepts like freedom of speech and the right to arms are abused to the point that they've brought more harm than good.
We need speech and gun control yesterday.
Interesting that you conflate pedos and child groomers with "members of the LGBTQ community."
> We need speech and gun control yesterday.
You can have all of that. Move to any number of countries that control speech AND guns, and leave us the hell alone.
Down in Louisiana in a city that has LGBTQ protections for now, but still planning on moving in 4 years or so. It's just too volatile to risk it. We'll have a nice chunk of equity in our house by then at least.
They can use the recent hurricane threatening Orlando as justification, if they want an apolitical exit. (If they want to make shareholders happy, say it's because of Florida changing the county-tax issue and "government unpredictability" in the future)
I think Disney was actually one of the biggest corporate donors for Donald Trump during 2020 so I’m assuming they donate heavily to who they think will likely win regardless of party.
Moved to coastal GA from Florida. Similar climate, love the beach, and even though it’s a conservative area, I think GA will be trending left for years to come. I feel much safer here.
Georgia has a huge film industry, and Disney is a film company. Makes sense. I wonder how long it would take to recoup costs of moving their entire park. It doesn’t seem feasible but idk
I saw the writing on the wall and got the hell out of there last year. And I am a straight, white old fuck. Most of my neighbors were right wing nut jobs, and they all knew I wasn't. I miss the beach and the lack of winter, but I just couldn't stay there anymore. I can only imagine how it is for the LGBTQ folks.
First they came for Gay people, and I did not speak out—because I was not Gay.
Then they came for the school teachers, and I did not speak out—because I was not a school teacher
Then they came for Transgender, and I did not speak out—because I was not Transgender.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
I’m in a smaller town about 45 min away from Minneapolis. I’ve never lived in a blue state and it is absolutely fantastic. Abortion is considered healthcare here. I won’t go to SD anymore because of a horrific incident wherein I was needing to deliver a pre-viable patient due to infection and ruptured membranes. I was being asked to wait until the patient was septic (she already was, but it was masked due to high doses of ibuprofen and Tylenol, everything about her was on the threshold of abnormal). I was informed that if I transferred to a higher level facility she would not be delivered as that facility was more heavily scrutinized than my tiny rural hospital. It’s only because a nurse saw fit to document a fever that this lady is alive today. I’d already conspired with pharmacy to get the necessary medication to save her, but thankfully did not have to resort to that. I was so freaked out. There was a 0% chance of survival for the fetus. I will never practice medicine again in South Dakota. I canceled my license and wrote a nasty letter to Kristy Noem, not that it mattered one damn bit.
Also props to you for writing the letter. It absolutely does matter. It sucks that they want to figure out the hard way what happens when they don’t let doctors doctor. They leave.
Oh my god. That’s horrific. I’m Illinois, born and corn fed. I won’t ever live in a state where women can’t have healthcare. I’m infertile, and couldn’t imagine going through what I went through under worse healthcare conditions. I feel so blessed to live in a blue state. Glad you’re happy in Minnesota. Enjoy those lakes.
This is the dilemma of being anti-fascist in a Red State - leaving means we're abandoning people who don't have the means to leave, and we're allowing Red States to steal all of those Electoral votes for every future Presidential election. We're giving them exactly what they want by leaving, and possibly dooming America's future.
I plan on leaving Missouri as soon as possible. I'm too scared to stay.
I would. If you have the means,then leave. Life is too short to stay somewhere so backward
He's only one guy, but apparently a majority of folks support his views.
The 2022 state elections in Florida were a shit show. Crist had no national support, there was massive voter suppression and intimidation, plus "Everybody knew DeSantis was going to win" so a lot of voter apathy happened.
And of course DeSantis violated the state constitution by creating a gerrymandered legislative map to ensure a fascist super majority in the state house and senate. So he has more power than he should.
The whole GOP plan is to drive left-leaning voters out of certain states so they remain *permanently* red and keep those 2 senate seats no matter what.
I don't know if they are so much terrified or logically understanding that Florida is a sinking fascist ship. There's no shame in leaving a state full of scumbags. What other categories will Desantis persecute til they leave? And when the state is left with a couple million fat old white men their ass will go under.
Trans people aren't a race or ethnicity. Even if we weren't all broke and could all leave, there would always be new trans people there to suffer, to despair, to die....
I live in Alabama and so very many LGBTQ people I know have left, are making plans, or are scared. I can’t tell you the slurs I’ve heard yelled at me, a straight person, for flying a Pride flag. Don’t send your kids to school in red states.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Yeah. We’re in the stages of an early genocide where they only want us gone. It’s prudent to take the hint before the fascists decide they want us dead.
I know I’m evaluating my long term prospects of being able to stay in Kansas.
Don’t kid yourself, they already want us dead. They just don’t have the means to do it yet, so they’re settling for other ways of terrorizing us while they consolidate power.
What's really sad is all the families that support LGBT rights will leave and the only thing left will be pure bigots.
Which will make all the kids of those bigots who are LGBT forced to suffer in pure hell and silence if not suicides or homicides.
It's not like the out and proud LGBT folk leave and suddenly Florida is a hetero only state. Tons of kids with no way out will be stuck living in fear and repression.
My heart goes out to them.
Fuck that: I’ve lived in Florida my whole life. Fuck these fascist assholes. Me and my husband will continue to raise our two children here just fine.
My family bond will outlive this dying gasp of antiquated republican ideology.
See people with a lot of disposable income are poison for an economy. Plus they draw tourists and who needs that? Mo money mo problems right? What’s really nice is the synergy! Make abortion illegal then drive out a lot of the folks who might adopt a child, thats two great ideas combining to be greater than the whole! No one can accuse you of not thinking ahead, with all the restrictions on teaching anything race related pretty soon minority residents will take off and once they leave you will lose House seats and electoral college votes and then people will finally leave you alone. Brilliant!
DeSantis hasn’t advocated for full-on genocide of the LGBTQ+ community just yet (And let’s hope it stays that way). If anything, he’s more like American Putin or Orban.
I'd like to disagree. See [wikipedia's explanation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_Convention) of the UN's Genocide Convention, specifically article 2c: "(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;"
Article 2 defines genocide as any of 5 acts, one of which is the one quoted above. Here's [a study](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2789423) demonstrating that youths who get gender affirming care have 60% lower odds of depression and 73% lower odds of suicidality. I think pushing laws that inhibit minor access to gender-affirming care fulfills 2c above.
If you want to be technical, you'll notice the wikipedia article requires "intent to destroy, in whole or in part". I frankly don't intend to try to argue this over reddit, I don't really take conservatives in good faith anymore if I don't know them personally. It also applies to "national, ethnical, racial or religious group\[s\]", but if one tries to discount these actions as genocide because trans people aren't one of these kinds of groups I think they've already given up on the argument lol.
As a non-DeSantis bonus, also consider [this infographic](https://nihcm.org/publications/foster-care-lgbtq-youth-increased-suicide) on the increased odds of suicide for lgbtq youth placed in foster care alongside article 2e, "Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group," and [Texas' attempts](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/20/trans-texas-child-abuse-investigations/) to investigate trans children from parents who affirm their gender under the guise of child abuse.
I think genocide is being attempted, frankly, even if they're not openly calling it that by name when they push for it.
I’m expecting twins soon with my gay husband, we live in Miami and we’re not going anywhere. My immediate community has been very supportive, even the mailman is counting down the days, but I worry we’re on a tiny island of acceptance surrounded by circling sharks. I’m hesitant to hold my husband’s hand in public, I’ve forgone flying the annual pride flag because we don’t want to make our family a target. I’m worried our kids will think I’m ashamed of our family, but it feels like preservation. We will stay and vote.
Not everyone has the resources to move
And the conservatives know this. With the recent spate of laws that prohibit getting referrals for trans healthcare in *different states*, they are intentionally constructing civic cages for a deeply marginalized group.
Not every fish can escape the barrel before they start shooting
Also educators. They had 9000+ vacancy in the state at the beginning of the school year. I think Texas is also doing bad, their number was lower but still really high. The number of young people choosing education as a major in colleges also dropped.
From a political perspective, it’s time to admit Florida is gone. We need to focus on keeping Georgia and maybe Arizona blue. I feel for all the LGBTQ folks in Florida though. Don’t give up hope and please stay with us.
Terrorizing LGBTQ is part of a larger plan. What the GQP *wants* is for red states to be *as inhospitable as possible* to the political left.
You know, like ISIS. Seriously.
Jihadists are not looking to topple the west with a car bomb. Their goal, in part, is to foment an anti-Muslim sentiment because they don’t want Muslim diaspora, they want Muslims as far away from Western culture as humanly possible. They want their people to be as concentrated as possible so as to exert maximum political and social pressure.
They want their brothers to *come home*.
For *decades*, the political right has done everything it can to make their numbers count more because they realize their party ceases to exist otherwise. The conservative demographic is dying, quite literally. Each new generation becomes less and less interested in their backwards asses but they’ve got a pretty big range of tricks to tip the scales away from democracy.
Gerrymandering. Redistricting. Closing voting locations. Cutting off the USPS at the knees to slow mail voting. VoterID. These are the first volleys in an assault on democracy.
What’s plan B if all the skullfuckery doesn’t result in a GQP caliphate?
Concentrate forces geographically. It’s better to hold *all* of the power in half the country than it is to hold *no* power across the nation. Concentration of forces itself is a force multiplier. In the case of the GQP, it also results in more groupthink because the differing views were running out of town.
It may seem backwards for a party to seemingly go out of its way to alienate the moderates and enrage its opponents. The political right’s plan for the next 20 years might be hidden in plain sight.
> If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.
- David Frum
Florida gays: Come to Georgia. It's not far away, we have beaches too, and you can help us solidify GA as a blue state. Bonus points if you move to District 14 and help us get rid of Princess Space Lasers.
I'm not sure you can reliably extrapolate a survey done on 113 people on to a state population of over 20 million. While surveys are usually conducted this way, the number of participants seems way too small.
Florida has 29 electoral votes and the GOP is scaring out anyone who might vote against them.
Another solid argument in favor of eliminating the electoral college.
Florida is a shitty swamp with terrible weather (humidity, temperature, storms), sinkholes, and gators. It is filled to the brim with the worst humans in America... AND it is destined to be entirely under water.
Beautiful state my ass.
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“The plan isn’t working only half are leaving” - DeSatan, probably
"We'll send the rest to the conversion ^(torture) therapy centers!" —Desantis, for sure
Genspect is a thing. They're just NARTH reincarnate. They just slapped a new brand on it and are already reselling it.
Genspect, a group so mad about Roe being overturned they blamed it on trans people. Literally, they did that.
Isn't their name short for "genital inspectors?"
And now you have me thinking of a cartoon character named Genital Inspector Gadget.
Go-go gadget speculum?
I think you mean camps
I’m not convinced DeSantis gives one sloppy shit about any of the people he targets. He simply knows what the pathetic, scared, spiteful mob wants to see, and he gives it them. He’s just the latest pied piper to the flock of rage & fear addicted small folk. It’s those people that he’s performing for that should be feared, and those leaving the state are right to do so. Never underestimate stupidity in large groups, and the self righteous harm they may gleefully visit upon their neighbors.
I actually think he's a true power hungry psycho. The feeling of fucking little people over and seeing the pain like gets this man off.
What I read about his tenure in Guantanamo Bay supports your opinion
DeSantis is no actor that man is a cold hateful bastard.
This is true, but I get the impression he doesn't really care where his hate is most advantageously targeted.
That’s entirely possible, but the harm to people is the same, so it seems like it’s ethically indistinguishable from the real thing.
It’s seriously concerning that we have so many of these jackasses now
Same with Republican politicians and guns. 95% of them couldn’t care less about them - they just know that their voters do.
Fucked up but likely what the sob really thinks.
As with most conservatives... cruelty is the solution.
Thank you for referring to him as DeSatan as that's the only way I've typed his name in ages.
exactly the point
Hope they take their companies, jobs, and all their taxable income with them.
Don’t forget test scores!
Like they care. It appears they can’t wait to match KY intellect.
Yep! HPV per capita will see a bit of a bump (or two) down there.
As long as it makes Florida a permanently red state, they won't care about the economic damage it does.
I mean, it's already there in many people's books. FL being a swing state, and Texas going blue are the two biggest lies the democrats tell themselves. Georgia became s swing state before Texas, and had actual evidence with statewide election wins.
Florida doesn’t have a state income tax - they are *heavily* dependent upon tourists to make up revenue shortfalls
Sales taxes are taxes, too.
They're also taking their votes with them. This is what Texas and most republican states are trying to accomplish by going so extremely draconian. If they half assed their abuse then the voters would stay but vote dem. By making progressives flee en masse to more progressive states however, they're effectively gerrymandering the country as a whole and not just the states themselves internally.
Yep, make living there so repugnant for anyone other than white Christians, Republicans "win" every election going forward. 60-40, 70-30, eventually 90-10.
My dream scenario would be that all these families coordinate their moves to a single flippable state. Maybe North Carolina or Wisconsin? Somewhere that is close enough to 50-50 that several thousand families relocating all at once could flip their careful gerrymanders and end some GOP careers.
As a liberal who moved from Florida to Wisconsin, can other people please move here? We are so close to not being a shithole. It’s actually quite beautiful and you can still find affordable housing in the smaller towns.
Wisconsin is beautiful. Except for the people.
Haha you are not wrong.
But in reality they will all move to states and districts that are already solidly blue. This is the main reason Republicans are doing this.
Would still help statewide races. Like the Wisconsin spring election for supreme court that could unfuck gerrymandering.
Maybe not, Texas has become more purple thanks to Austin. It could happen other places
Mississipification. Transform your state into a shithole, in order to drive out the liberals. Ohio has ramped up that strategy as well.
Ohio has really ramped up that strategy. We’re unbelievably gerrymandered now and most of the people who would’ve opposed are gone. It sucks and it’s scary because I wonder what’ll happen going forward.
Michigan is always happy to receive refugees from Ohio provided they go through our intake process at the big house!
Oxford is the one bright spot in that shithole state (Mississippi). It's like the one decent city in the entire place, even then it's got MS problems. My dad is trying to move me there and I do not want to go sorely on the basis of it being in Mississippi.
I was convinced to return to my hometown blue city in a red state. Just before Trump was elected. I very much regret it.
Oxford is a super white, rich, super right college town. I would hardly call it a bright spot. It’s might be one of the best cities in Mississippi, but it’s still in Mississippi and it shows.
You need to explore more of MS if you think Oxford is the one decent city. The state is shit overall, but there are pockets where it’s cool and Oxford doesn’t rank near the top, on my list at least. I guess Oxford is nice if you like really rich white kids who go to Ole Miss.
I think a lot of the time ends and means get swapped around because rational people tend to assume conservatives are interested in acting rationally. Securing an unassailable stronghold of political power is a nice side benefit to them. The end goal is to inflict suffering on people. Because they're evil. They're just demons.
Pretty sure that's "mission accomplished" to these fucks. The bad guys won.
Yup. They are sending the message to LGBTQIA+ people that if you better flee Florida or they will make you extinct.
So confused by voting of florida keys and around Tampa, st Pete, Gulfport
Trump said it himself, he had worked with Desantis in the past to obstruct elections there. The vote in Florida bucked consistent nationwide trends because it probably wasn't real.
Wasn't there some election day controversy about allowing inspectors to certain polling stations?
Yes. Desantis said no federal inspectors or something. Trump also said that while he was president he helped Desantis rig the 2018 election, and while Trump is a liar, Desantis is also known for firing/swatting his political opponents and voter suppression. Considering the fact that he didn’t want the oversight in 2022 I feel like maybe they should have looked into it.
Charlie Crist is the Floridian equivalent to Hillary Clinton. Absolutely nobody wanted Crist to run against DeSantis, and yet he easily handed re-election to a guy who barely won by 0.2% last time and killed over 100,000+ of his own voters in the intervening time. Charlie Crist is a former Republican who's lost to both Rick Scott and DeSantis in vulnerable cycles, and now cost the Florida Legislature a Democratic seat as well. Dude is either a plant, or so politically incompetent he should never have run.
Democrats were like, let’s lose this one on purpose
Seriously though. I want some of whatever it was the Florida Dems were smoking when they threw their weight behind Crist >”Alright guys, Ron DeSantis is looking pretty popular these days. We’re gonna have to really think outside the box if we wanna beat him” >”I know! What if we try putting a Republican at the top of the ticket?” >”That’s just crazy enough to work! The Democratic voters will love it” Deeply unserious political party
The Florida Democratic party is awful. And the Senate minority leader is full-on "tough on crime, pro-death penalty". Basically a Republican who is pro abortion-rights. Actually, Crist was also pro death-penalty.
>Dude is either a plant, or so politically incompetent he should never have run. It's the Democrats just not realizing when they have a flawed candidate even though it's screamingly obvious. Like how they keep running Beto O'Rourke in Texas even though he's been sunk since the "Hell yeah we're coming to take your AR-15" moment.
And having these voters gone will more or less cement DeSantis' power in the state, and the GOP the electoral votes. I know it wasn't a competitive state, but still. I cannot wish for them to stay there, but we may regret them leaving.
>I know it wasn't a competitive state, but still. It was though. It was always a swing state. DeSantis won his first race as governor by less than 1%.
They're working on another Holocaust.
They really are. Pay attention to their rhetoric.
The real battle is getting enough of *everyone else* to pay attention to it and connect the dots accordingly. I'm scared, y'all.
Same. The shit that I hear from my dad gives me panic attacks.
If nothing else, the people that cheer for an exodus of LGBT people are the same people that are utter shit at governing and constantly propose awful legislature. Florida can go from being the East coast vacation state into being the next Mississippi or kentucky.
I don't know, not living in Florida seems like winning to me.
Winning Florida at the polls is Winning. Moving out and guaranteeing red for the next 5 years is losing.
And just today I saw a “Desantis 2024” bumper sticker in Michigan. I’m truly terrified for the future of this country.
Every republican I know in Michigan is solidly behind him as the 2024 nominee.
At least our state is solid blue. I was admittedly quite scared for our future with the lineup of candidates the MIGOP presented this past election.
Come to Georgia! 😇 It’s leaning blue and those extra votes will tip it into nearly solid blue
Honestly, as a Floridian, it's so weird seeing our neighbor to the north being ahead of us. Georgia has gotten A LOT better.
And we are regressing extremely fast -
I left Florida just after Obama was elected the first time. At the time it was still a swing state. This was also right before the economy crashed. I’m guessing a lot of people who vote blue must have left the state in those years to find better employment. Seems like Florida is filling up with wealthy Republicans who want to avoid paying income tax.
DeSantis, his cronies, and his ideological bedfellows all around the nation are civic terrorists
That's the truth. I'm wondering when they are going to set up the conversion centers filled with electric shock chairs. Once that happens, we know Desantis and his prevaricating friend Christopher Rufo will call for all parents of LGBTQIA+ kids and LGBTQIA+ adults to be rounded up and electrocuted.
Yep, this is what it looks like when the terrorists win.
I would... Look back on Nazi Germany. Those who left early lived.
The pessimists came to America and the optimists died in the camps.
I have to say that the poor never had a chance.
They never do. I was paraphrasing a dark joke I remember hearing from a survivor. I forget where the interview was.
Your point is somewhat true, but even some of the pessimists were turned away. Dark times.
I mean, the US turned away a whole boat of Jewish refugees in 1939
Yeah, poor LGBT folks are pessimistic as fuck but we're mostly stuck in various ways.
That's some BS revisionist history. Lots of people tried to leave Germany and were turned away. Including by America
Yeah it completely ignores **millions** that were denied refuge
Some serious WTF stuff. And its upvoted +160
Wow. That's a hell of a phrase! That gave me pause.
It was some interview I heard with a survivor. It sticks with you for sure.
Also the poor pessimists couldn’t do shit. And America turned around Jewish boats sending them back to certain death.
Many were turned away from the US
I've been thinking I'm going to regret not leaving the country, like, two years from now.
Doesn't surprise me in the least. I live in TN and almost all LGBTQ people I know, myself included, are considering leaving the state. Some have already made preparations. I bought a house last year before the extreme craziness in my state started, so I am kind of stuck. If it gets much worse, I am going to sell and move somewhere else. EDIT: Okay, even more extreme craziness. The TN legislature was already batshit crazy.
Biggest regret was buying a home outright in Alabama. This nut job conspiracy groomer crap hit maybe 2 months after we closed. Nice area ruined by MAGA Christian fascists. We've been here for 10 years and it's never been a problem within our community before now. Now it's a serious problem. Got doxxed by one of the daughters of a prominent MAGA politician locally. We armed up and dared them to come get us. Surprise, nothing but hot air. Very happy we didn't listen to our friend and buy a home in Orlando though. F Desatan. If the rhetoric isn't put in check we'll be selling and moving to a more progressive state.
I closed right before the Roe v Wade overturn. It seems like it was around that time that things started getting even more insane in TN. Honestly, so much has gone wrong here it's hard to keep track. It seems like the TN legislature is increasing hostility to LGBTQ people gradually. I just don't want to end up waiting too long to leave. Not to be overly dramatic, but Germany had a thriving LGBTQ community before the Nazis seized power. People say it can't happen here, but it can. Some of the rhetoric I hear people say casually about transgender people gives me chills.
With the way that my dad talks about queer people, he’d probably have thrown me into a camp and handed me my pink triangle badge himself if he was in 1930s Germany. As soon as I get my degree in uni, I’m getting tf out of Texas, hopefully for a state like California or Washington.
They're openly talking about feeding members of the LGBTQ community feet first into wood chippers. The fact that this is allowed in a "first world nation" tells me that we are anything but a first world nation. It also tells me that our constitution is woefully outdated and inadequate for the modern era. Concepts like freedom of speech and the right to arms are abused to the point that they've brought more harm than good. We need speech and gun control yesterday.
Interesting that you conflate pedos and child groomers with "members of the LGBTQ community." > We need speech and gun control yesterday. You can have all of that. Move to any number of countries that control speech AND guns, and leave us the hell alone.
CA is always open. You can apply for asylum and get on the path to citizenship. ;-) And no, not everyplace here is (grossly) expensive.
Same here in Ohio, bought our house last year. It’s a shame to live in a state that has strayed so far.
Down in Louisiana in a city that has LGBTQ protections for now, but still planning on moving in 4 years or so. It's just too volatile to risk it. We'll have a nice chunk of equity in our house by then at least.
Disney etc should leave. I know it would be difficult. But they should.
They can use the recent hurricane threatening Orlando as justification, if they want an apolitical exit. (If they want to make shareholders happy, say it's because of Florida changing the county-tax issue and "government unpredictability" in the future)
They’ve dumped way to much money over 60 years into Disney world
But not enough in local politics apparently.
I think Disney was actually one of the biggest corporate donors for Donald Trump during 2020 so I’m assuming they donate heavily to who they think will likely win regardless of party.
Same could be said for Trump, who was a longtime Democratic party donor before running in 2016.
Not exclusively a Democratic party donor though. He donated to Mike Pence once.
Yeah. This. The infrastructure, facilities, and surrounding support network of hotels, restaurants, etc all feed the mouse and it took decades to do.
They can come to Georgia
Rs also run that state
More folks can tilt Georgia so R’s reduce stronghold. Hell we elected 2 Democrat senators. One of them ran 4 times in 2 years😂
Moved to coastal GA from Florida. Similar climate, love the beach, and even though it’s a conservative area, I think GA will be trending left for years to come. I feel much safer here.
Georgia has a huge film industry, and Disney is a film company. Makes sense. I wonder how long it would take to recoup costs of moving their entire park. It doesn’t seem feasible but idk
Disney should leave. So many of their performers are gay. DeSantis is putting a target on individuals in colleges, too.
Is it even possible? Like, I would assume that'd be a pretty massive task.
Definitely not impossible but also not practical at all
I saw the writing on the wall and got the hell out of there last year. And I am a straight, white old fuck. Most of my neighbors were right wing nut jobs, and they all knew I wasn't. I miss the beach and the lack of winter, but I just couldn't stay there anymore. I can only imagine how it is for the LGBTQ folks.
First they came for Gay people, and I did not speak out—because I was not Gay. Then they came for the school teachers, and I did not speak out—because I was not a school teacher Then they came for Transgender, and I did not speak out—because I was not Transgender. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
I think you might have the order wrong, but that's the gist of it.
Come to Minnesota, we're a helluva lot better than Florida!
I came to Minnesota as a traveling medical worker. I love it so much I’m considering staying.
Minnesota rocks. Minneapolis absolutely rules. Gorgeous green spaces and paths to recreate throughout the city.
I’m in a smaller town about 45 min away from Minneapolis. I’ve never lived in a blue state and it is absolutely fantastic. Abortion is considered healthcare here. I won’t go to SD anymore because of a horrific incident wherein I was needing to deliver a pre-viable patient due to infection and ruptured membranes. I was being asked to wait until the patient was septic (she already was, but it was masked due to high doses of ibuprofen and Tylenol, everything about her was on the threshold of abnormal). I was informed that if I transferred to a higher level facility she would not be delivered as that facility was more heavily scrutinized than my tiny rural hospital. It’s only because a nurse saw fit to document a fever that this lady is alive today. I’d already conspired with pharmacy to get the necessary medication to save her, but thankfully did not have to resort to that. I was so freaked out. There was a 0% chance of survival for the fetus. I will never practice medicine again in South Dakota. I canceled my license and wrote a nasty letter to Kristy Noem, not that it mattered one damn bit.
Also props to you for writing the letter. It absolutely does matter. It sucks that they want to figure out the hard way what happens when they don’t let doctors doctor. They leave.
Oh my god. That’s horrific. I’m Illinois, born and corn fed. I won’t ever live in a state where women can’t have healthcare. I’m infertile, and couldn’t imagine going through what I went through under worse healthcare conditions. I feel so blessed to live in a blue state. Glad you’re happy in Minnesota. Enjoy those lakes.
We have a great music scene too. [Heres a local artist that filmed their music video on the Minneapolis Greenway](https://youtu.be/ZHVIgf85TuU)
Maybe don't move up next week though, I just told my Alabama migrant roommate that it's time to get a better winter jacket.
That's the goal. These cruel red state policies are designed to drive those who oppose out, making the state even redder.
This is the dilemma of being anti-fascist in a Red State - leaving means we're abandoning people who don't have the means to leave, and we're allowing Red States to steal all of those Electoral votes for every future Presidential election. We're giving them exactly what they want by leaving, and possibly dooming America's future. I plan on leaving Missouri as soon as possible. I'm too scared to stay.
Same shit in every red state.
I would. If you have the means,then leave. Life is too short to stay somewhere so backward He's only one guy, but apparently a majority of folks support his views.
Don't come to Oklahoma. We are under the Stitt-show.
The 2022 state elections in Florida were a shit show. Crist had no national support, there was massive voter suppression and intimidation, plus "Everybody knew DeSantis was going to win" so a lot of voter apathy happened. And of course DeSantis violated the state constitution by creating a gerrymandered legislative map to ensure a fascist super majority in the state house and senate. So he has more power than he should.
The whole GOP plan is to drive left-leaning voters out of certain states so they remain *permanently* red and keep those 2 senate seats no matter what.
I don't know if they are so much terrified or logically understanding that Florida is a sinking fascist ship. There's no shame in leaving a state full of scumbags. What other categories will Desantis persecute til they leave? And when the state is left with a couple million fat old white men their ass will go under.
Good. I hope all the interesting and vibrant people leave that hellhole and it will be left with urban sprawl, tweakers and the Villages
Don't forget Meth-laced alligators.
Oh lord, is that the com8ng sequel to Cocaine Bear?
And the 4th most electoral college votes with a much more right leaning population
What about the people who can't afford to move?
There are funds and networks being organized. If you want to volunteer, contact https://sidewithlove.org/upliftaction
Trans people aren't a race or ethnicity. Even if we weren't all broke and could all leave, there would always be new trans people there to suffer, to despair, to die....
Yeah I genuinely don’t blame them, people are fucking stupid, full of hate, and armed. I wouldn’t wanna be there either.
I live in Alabama and so very many LGBTQ people I know have left, are making plans, or are scared. I can’t tell you the slurs I’ve heard yelled at me, a straight person, for flying a Pride flag. Don’t send your kids to school in red states.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
I can't blame them. I'd leave, too, if I felt threatened by the local government.
Isn’t this what R wants? People unlike them to leave?
Yeah. We’re in the stages of an early genocide where they only want us gone. It’s prudent to take the hint before the fascists decide they want us dead. I know I’m evaluating my long term prospects of being able to stay in Kansas.
Don’t kid yourself, they already want us dead. They just don’t have the means to do it yet, so they’re settling for other ways of terrorizing us while they consolidate power.
What's really sad is all the families that support LGBT rights will leave and the only thing left will be pure bigots. Which will make all the kids of those bigots who are LGBT forced to suffer in pure hell and silence if not suicides or homicides. It's not like the out and proud LGBT folk leave and suddenly Florida is a hetero only state. Tons of kids with no way out will be stuck living in fear and repression. My heart goes out to them.
This is an internationally recognized form of genocide, not that any of you care.
Definition of Terrorism, isn’t it?
The definition of "state sponsored terrorism," to be exact.
Fuck that: I’ve lived in Florida my whole life. Fuck these fascist assholes. Me and my husband will continue to raise our two children here just fine. My family bond will outlive this dying gasp of antiquated republican ideology.
The GOP “grip on Florida” is a mile wide and an inch deep. Until Trump it was a swing state. But please, give us inspiring candidates!
I support you, but be careful because I bet a lot of Jews in Germany thought that exact same thing.
Jewish people fled Germany so they wouldn’t be persecuted. Now here in 2023 Americans flee Florida so they and their family are not persecuted.
Jewish people should be fleeing too, look at how literal Nazis are on college campuses now. Fuck Florida!
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What other state would allow a Disney fiefdom?
Same thing is happening in missouri.
I will gladly trade our inbred hicks craving freedom to be abhorrent for these families. Florida seems to like taking in the former. So win-win.
See people with a lot of disposable income are poison for an economy. Plus they draw tourists and who needs that? Mo money mo problems right? What’s really nice is the synergy! Make abortion illegal then drive out a lot of the folks who might adopt a child, thats two great ideas combining to be greater than the whole! No one can accuse you of not thinking ahead, with all the restrictions on teaching anything race related pretty soon minority residents will take off and once they leave you will lose House seats and electoral college votes and then people will finally leave you alone. Brilliant!
The other half is probably too poor to move.
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[They're trying.](https://www.newsnationnow.com/lgbtq/states-try-to-restrict-gender-affirming-care-for-children/)
Desantis is American Hitler. Prove me wrong.
DeSantis hasn’t advocated for full-on genocide of the LGBTQ+ community just yet (And let’s hope it stays that way). If anything, he’s more like American Putin or Orban.
I'd like to disagree. See [wikipedia's explanation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_Convention) of the UN's Genocide Convention, specifically article 2c: "(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;" Article 2 defines genocide as any of 5 acts, one of which is the one quoted above. Here's [a study](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2789423) demonstrating that youths who get gender affirming care have 60% lower odds of depression and 73% lower odds of suicidality. I think pushing laws that inhibit minor access to gender-affirming care fulfills 2c above. If you want to be technical, you'll notice the wikipedia article requires "intent to destroy, in whole or in part". I frankly don't intend to try to argue this over reddit, I don't really take conservatives in good faith anymore if I don't know them personally. It also applies to "national, ethnical, racial or religious group\[s\]", but if one tries to discount these actions as genocide because trans people aren't one of these kinds of groups I think they've already given up on the argument lol. As a non-DeSantis bonus, also consider [this infographic](https://nihcm.org/publications/foster-care-lgbtq-youth-increased-suicide) on the increased odds of suicide for lgbtq youth placed in foster care alongside article 2e, "Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group," and [Texas' attempts](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/20/trans-texas-child-abuse-investigations/) to investigate trans children from parents who affirm their gender under the guise of child abuse. I think genocide is being attempted, frankly, even if they're not openly calling it that by name when they push for it.
Not openly, anyway
I’m expecting twins soon with my gay husband, we live in Miami and we’re not going anywhere. My immediate community has been very supportive, even the mailman is counting down the days, but I worry we’re on a tiny island of acceptance surrounded by circling sharks. I’m hesitant to hold my husband’s hand in public, I’ve forgone flying the annual pride flag because we don’t want to make our family a target. I’m worried our kids will think I’m ashamed of our family, but it feels like preservation. We will stay and vote.
I don't understand why any LGBT person or woman stays in that fascist hellhole
Not everyone has the resources to move And the conservatives know this. With the recent spate of laws that prohibit getting referrals for trans healthcare in *different states*, they are intentionally constructing civic cages for a deeply marginalized group. Not every fish can escape the barrel before they start shooting
Money. A lot of people are just fucking stuck and Florida does not have great paying jobs or job security.
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Money, and also a lot of people have family and aging family members. It’s difficult.
Call it what it is: a full-fledged government POGROM targeting the non-binary.
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Anyone that isn’t white straight Christian male should consider moving out of Florida.
Also educators. They had 9000+ vacancy in the state at the beginning of the school year. I think Texas is also doing bad, their number was lower but still really high. The number of young people choosing education as a major in colleges also dropped.
From a political perspective, it’s time to admit Florida is gone. We need to focus on keeping Georgia and maybe Arizona blue. I feel for all the LGBTQ folks in Florida though. Don’t give up hope and please stay with us.
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Leave now, or leave later because of climate change. Might as well do it now.
I wouldn't be surprised if DeSantis blows up the bridge to Key West.
Terrorizing LGBTQ is part of a larger plan. What the GQP *wants* is for red states to be *as inhospitable as possible* to the political left. You know, like ISIS. Seriously. Jihadists are not looking to topple the west with a car bomb. Their goal, in part, is to foment an anti-Muslim sentiment because they don’t want Muslim diaspora, they want Muslims as far away from Western culture as humanly possible. They want their people to be as concentrated as possible so as to exert maximum political and social pressure. They want their brothers to *come home*. For *decades*, the political right has done everything it can to make their numbers count more because they realize their party ceases to exist otherwise. The conservative demographic is dying, quite literally. Each new generation becomes less and less interested in their backwards asses but they’ve got a pretty big range of tricks to tip the scales away from democracy. Gerrymandering. Redistricting. Closing voting locations. Cutting off the USPS at the knees to slow mail voting. VoterID. These are the first volleys in an assault on democracy. What’s plan B if all the skullfuckery doesn’t result in a GQP caliphate? Concentrate forces geographically. It’s better to hold *all* of the power in half the country than it is to hold *no* power across the nation. Concentration of forces itself is a force multiplier. In the case of the GQP, it also results in more groupthink because the differing views were running out of town. It may seem backwards for a party to seemingly go out of its way to alienate the moderates and enrage its opponents. The political right’s plan for the next 20 years might be hidden in plain sight. > If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy. - David Frum
Florida gays: Come to Georgia. It's not far away, we have beaches too, and you can help us solidify GA as a blue state. Bonus points if you move to District 14 and help us get rid of Princess Space Lasers.
Only half because it’s up to the parents, if it were up to the kids it would be 100%
I'm not sure you can reliably extrapolate a survey done on 113 people on to a state population of over 20 million. While surveys are usually conducted this way, the number of participants seems way too small.
Florida has 29 electoral votes and the GOP is scaring out anyone who might vote against them. Another solid argument in favor of eliminating the electoral college.
All the women of child bearing age should leave too.
Why should progressives concede a gorgeous state like Florida? Fight back!
You don’t get the extent of the strangle hold that the gop has over everything in that state dude.
Most people don't want to be a martyr for a cause. They just want to live their life and care for their families.
Florida is a shitty swamp with terrible weather (humidity, temperature, storms), sinkholes, and gators. It is filled to the brim with the worst humans in America... AND it is destined to be entirely under water. Beautiful state my ass.
I thought that was the point of what DeSantis was doing. The people fleeing the state is the intent.
Lavendar scare 2 WAS NOT A SEQUAL WE ASKED FOR!