DeSantis, a Republican whom many in the party consider a possible presidential contender in 2024, mentioned his accomplishments in the Sunshine State and what he considered a triumph over the Left.
“They can’t cancel me, I’m going to speak my mind,” DeSantis announced, according to National Review. “You know, I saw that there was a little opposition to me coming here. All I can tell you is this: When the left is having a spasm, that just tells you that in Florida, we are winning.”
Dozens of LGBTQ rights activists assembled outside New York City’s Chelsea Piers on Sunday, holding signs like “Transphobia is not kosher’ and “Say Gay” to oppose the venue’s hosting of the conference and DeSantis.
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Yet after the Tikvah Fund, a Conservative Jewish organization, declared that DeSantis would talk at the event, the Jewish Museum backed out of a tentative rental agreement to host the conference, and Chelsea Piers later agreed to host the event.
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Shortly after, LGBTQ groups declared they would boycott the venue for hosting it near the famed Stonewall Inn - the birthplace of the gay rights movement.
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DeSantis bragged about Florida’s policies on COVID and contrasted himself with New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who kept a mask mandate for preschoolers in place.
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“Now I know New York for a long time, until very recently, force-masked these toddlers, which I think, quite frankly, is inhumane. And so we would never impose those policies in the state of Florida,” DeSantis announced.
The governor denounced what he named “wokeness” in American politics and life.
“We have said that the state of Florida is not going to be overrun by woke ideology. It’s just not going to happen,” DeSantis announced. “I think it’s cancer, I think it will destroy this country if it’s able to get more of a foothold than it already has.”
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DeSantis further defended the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which led to many protesters’ attendance at this address. The bill bans teaching gender identity to children in grades K-3.
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It led to him getting rid of self-governing status for Disney on the company’s complex near Orlando.
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“My duty and my oath of office was to not subcontract out responsibility to a corporation based in Burbank, Calif.,” DeSantis stated. “That is not going to happen, they’re not going to run this state.”
The address even drew protests from Congressional Democrats, including powerful New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney.
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“I'm here because this is a sacred ground for human rights,” Maloney explained to DailyMail.com at the protest on Sunday, stressing that she stood with former President Barack Obama when he designated the Stonewall Inn a national monument.