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WARNING: This story contains language that may disturb readers.
Whenever Will Larkins steps out of the house, the incoming college student thinks about what to wear.
In the suburban community of Orlando Winter Park in central Florida, Larkins said that sometimes it can feel unsafe to live authentically as someone who identifies as gender fluid.
“The threat of violence is very real, very scary,” said Larkins, who used a pronoun. In some public places, he said, looking “very strange” can be dangerous.
“I was walking with my sister on my own street, and a car pulled up next to me, rolled down the window and someone screamed out the window: ‘F–k you, f—-t.’
While being bullied is not new to Larkins, 18, they say the new anti-LGBTQ law in the country has emboldened bigots.
“I’m not used to having a government to support my bullies.”
Life just got tougher for Larkins under Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
He has signed several laws that limit LGBTQ rights, ban educational programs about racism, end access to abortion after the six-week mark of pregnancy and make it easier for people to carry guns.
But DeSantis has also been credited with crafting pro-business policies that saved livelihoods, keeping the state afloat economically during the pandemic.
Now that DeSantis is officially the Republican nominee for the 2024 U.S. presidential election, voters can take a look at his time as Florida governor to get a sense of his priorities. And while his campaign has only just begun, and he has yet to launch an official policy, Florida is an early blueprint for how it might work.
At this moment, in Florida, DeSantis is generally seen as a polarizing figure, drawing strong responses from critics and supporters alike.
A different COVID strategy
DeSantis has been able to make many changes, very quickly, for a fairly simple reason: he and his party won big in the 2022 Florida midterm elections.
DeSantis secured his second term as governor by defeating his closest opponent by nearly 20 points. Voters voted enough Republicans to give him and his party a supermajority in the state house, which made legislation easier.
“I would say the reason for his success in his re-election bid is how he handled COVID, and how quickly he opened the store,” said John Louizes, owner of Zeno’s Boardwalk Sweet Shop, a small candy chain. shops in popular tourist areas.
Louizes is a third-generation candy maker that also has a factory in Daytona Beach that produces saltwater taffy and ice cream.
“He definitely saved our business,” Louizes said of the governor.
During the pandemic, the Louzies defied the odds by expanding their company. They went from four candy stores across the country to 10.
Demand surged after DeSantis lifted COVID-19 restrictions and tourists rushed back into the state. Despite strong criticism from public health leaders, Louzies thinks the governor made the right call.
“At the time, it was a crazy thing to do … and in the end he was right. So on the right side of what I feel is the right side of history on this is very good.”
In past elections, Louizes said she usually supported Democrats. But in 2022, he decided to support DeSantis, a Republican, because of his pro-business policies.
“It really doesn’t attract people like that…people who do nothing for you.”
‘I’m proud he’s from Dunedin’
On the other side of the country, on the central Gulf coast, more voters feel the same way.
“Governor DeSantis is a very successful individual in everything he does,” said John Tornga, Dunedin’s deputy mayor.
The city has deep Canadian connections and is perhaps best known as the place where the Toronto Blue Jays play their spring training games.
This also happens to be where DeSantis is from.
“I often don’t like to use the word proud,” Tornga said. “But I’m proud he’s from Dunedin. Who isn’t? Who can’t be?”
Tornga would not say clearly who he wants to support for president because the city council position is non-partisan. But he thinks DeSantis is doing a good job managing Florida’s finances and keeping the state safe through immigration and security policies.
Any criticism of the governor’s social policies, he said, was typical political pushback.
“There are some laws that can be passed that some people don’t agree with. That’s always going to happen.”
Run away from the country
It’s a mistake to dismiss concerns about Florida’s law targeting marginalized communities, according to various critics of DeSantis.
Partly in response to changes in how black history is taught in schools and bans on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) issued. official advice upon traveling to the country.
“Florida is openly hostile to African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals,” the statement said, citing “DeSantis’ aggressive efforts to erase black history and limit diversity, equity and inclusion programs in Florida schools.”
Some members of the LGBTQ community say they are ready to leave the country for good.
DeSantis has passed a ban on gender-affirming health care for trans children and a new ban on adults. Patients over the age of 18 must obtain written consent from two medical oversight boards to receive some elements of gender-affirming treatment.
He also signed legislation allowing medical practitioners to refuse treatment on moral or religious grounds, new restrictions on bathroom use and easier bans on books with LGBTQ content.
DeSantis also developed what critics called the “Don’t Talk Gay” bill, which eliminated lessons about gender identity and sexual orientation from all public school classrooms.
“I had plans to move as soon as I could, but it sucks because Florida is my home… I don’t want to leave my family, but it’s just not safe for someone like me,” said Dylan Orrange. a 20 year old from Orlando who identifies as non-binary and uses same-person pronouns.
CBC News spoke with Orrange and her partner Matty Joseph ahead of a memorial service at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. In 2016, a gunman shot and killed 49 people at a gay nightclub. This is one of the worst acts of violence against the LGBTQ community in US history.
“Look what [DeSantis] with Florida, we don’t know what will happen if they have power across the United States,” Joseph said.
Disney drama
Florida’s largest employer, the Walt Disney Company, has been one of the governor’s loudest critics.
After being pushed by employees to speak out, Disney angered DeSantis by criticizing the “Don’t Talk Gay” bill. It sparked a back-and-forth legal battle, with enormous economic consequences.
Disney announced that cancel the plan to invest more than $1 billion in the new campus, which will create 2,000 jobs.
“Florida needs Disney more than Disney needs Florida,” said Richard Foglesong, a political science professor at Rollins College in Winter Park and author of the book Married to Ratsbook about Disney’s relationship with Florida.
Foglesong said there is much to be learned from DeSantis’ battle with Disney. In particular, it shows that he is willing to abandon traditional Republican positions, which helped him achieve a landslide victory in 2022, in favor of a divisive fight.
“Historically, it has been a pro-business party that favors low taxes and reduced government regulation … which is exactly what Walt Disney World represents,” Foglesong said.
“But he’s trying a different strategy, a culture war strategy. We’ll see if that works for him or not.”
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