LGBTQ

A federal judge in Texas known for a ruling that attempted to ban a widely-used abortion drug is citing an extremist anti-LGBTQ group in his ruling allowing a ban on drag shows to stay in place.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a former attorney for an anti-LGBTQ conservative Christian legal organization, and a member of the Federalist Society, in his 26-page ruling dated Thursday cited the “About” page of Gays Against Groomers to claim, “it’s unclear how drag shows unmistakably communicate advocacy for LGBT rights.”

Judge Kacsmaryk, appointed by Donald Trump twice before finally assuming office in 2019, suggests the First Amendment does not provide for freedom of expression for drag shows, calls drag “sexualized conduct,” and says it is “more regulable” because “children are in the audience.”

READ MORE: ‘The Public Deserves to Know’: Abortion Pill Banning Judge Redacted Details About Millions of Dollars in His Stock Portfolio

Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern adds, “Kacsmaryk’s conclusion that drag is probably NOT protected by the First Amendment conflicts with decisions from Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Montana which held that drag is constitutionally protected expression. It also bristles with undisguised hostility toward LGBTQ people.”

Calling the judge “a proud Christian nationalist who flatly refuses to apply binding Supreme Court precedent when it conflicts with his extremist far-right beliefs,” Stern at Slate writes that Kacsmaryk ruled drag “may be outlawed to protect ‘the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.’ In short, he concluded that drag fails to convey a message, while explaining all the reasons why he’s offended by the message it conveys.”

Stern does not let Kacsmaryk off the hook there.

“From almost any other judge, the ruling in Spectrum WT v. Wendler would be a shocking rejection of basic free speech principles; from Kacsmaryk, it’s par for the course. This is, after all, the judge who sought to ban medication abortion nationwide, restricted minors’ access to birth control, seize control over border policy to exclude asylum-seekers, and flouted recent precedent protecting LGBTQ+ equality,” Stern says.

READ MORE: Far-Right Judge Under Fire for Failing to Disclose Interviews on Civil Rights – but LGBTQ Community Had Warned Senators

“He is also poised to bankrupt Planned Parenthood by compelling them to pay a $1.8 billion penalty on truly ludicrous grounds. And he is not the only Trump-appointed judge substituting his reactionary beliefs for legal analysis. We have reached a point where these lawless decisions are not only predictable but inevitable, and they show no sign of stopping: Their authors are still just settling into a decadeslong service in the federal judiciary.”

West Texas A&M University President Walter V. Wendler penned the letter that sparked the lawsuit.

Titled, “A Harmless Drag Show? No Such Thing,” Wendler wrote: “I believe every human being is created in the image of God and, therefore, a person of dignity. Being created in God’s image is the basis of Natural Law. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, prisoners of the culture of their time as are we, declared the Creator’s origin as the foundational fiber in the fabric of our nation as they breathed life into it. Does a drag show preserve a single thread of human dignity? I think not.”

Journalist Chris Geidner concludes, “It’s an extremely biased ruling by a judge who has established that he does not care about being overturned — even by the most conservative appeals court in the nation.”

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When Donald Trump called for "patriotic education" for public schools in September 2020, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice was vehemently critical — telling CNN's Erin Burnett that Trump's idea sounded like something out of Mao Tse Tung-era China.

Three years later, Trump and other MAGA Republicans, including the far-right group Moms for Liberty, haven't given up on their idea. In fact, New York Magazine's Sarah Jones stresses that he is making it a priority in his 2024 campaign.

"Parents simply want to protect children from smut and indoctrination, activists say," Jones explains in an article published on September 19. "'Parental rights' is veneer, though: The movement exclusively opposes LGBT content, sex education, and anti-racist material. They've banned books and threatened librarians and fired teachers. These activists are extremists, and so are their allies in office."

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Jones continues, "If anyone doubted that, Donald Trump's latest education proposal should enlighten them. The former president's top priority is to 'restore' parental rights, he announced last week. By this, he means he wants schools to out LGBT children to their parents — or, as he put it, notify parents 'if a teacher or other school employee' has changed a child's 'name, pronouns, or understanding of his or her gender.' Many of Trump's policies are designed to push children back into the closet, all at the behest of far-right parents."

Jones notes that Trump is calling for a "credentialing body" for teachers who "embrace patriotic values and support the American way of life."

"Parental-rights activists and Trump have much in common beyond their hatred for LGBT people," Jones comments. "They both share an authoritarian tendency."

READ MORE:Moms for Liberty: ‘Joyful warriors’ or anti-government conspiracists?

Read the full New York Magazine article at this draft.

Over the years, members of Log Cabin and other gay Republican groups have argued that the gay community limits itself by being closely allied with the Democratic Party. And many Democrats have responded that they are naïve to downplay the anti-gay attitudes that are so common in the GOP.

Conservative podcaster Brad Polumbo, who is openly gay, believes that homophobia has grown worse among Republicans than it was during Donald Trump's presidency. During an interview with New York Times opinion writer Jane Coaston published on September 4, Polumbo argued that "the trans debate" has led to an "extreme backlash and reaction on the right, which is catching up to gay rights."

Polumbo told Coaston that the Trump years brought "something of a détente on gay rights issues on the right."

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"After Trump was elected president, and despite his many faults on many things," the podcaster noted, "he had a more tolerant approach on gay issues than most Republicans had at that time…. He's a narcissist. So if you like him, whether you're gay or whatever, he'll like you. But he came in saying he was fine with gay marriage."

Polumbo went on to say that the right has long had a division between libertarians and social conservatives.

"I think it's deeply divided, and there's different pockets," Polumbo told Coaston. "There's a pocket of the right that always is and always has been homophobic, that thinks gay people or transgender people are degenerate and disordered. That's part of, although not all of, the Religious Right, I would say. There's a part of the right that's always been pretty socially moderate or libertarian and has been fine with gay people and continues to be fine with gay people."

The podcaster added that "a lot of gay people aren't on board with the excesses of woke politics."

READ MORE:'I was shaken': Gay NY broadcaster fears new 'threats of violence'

"They would be gettable by the GOP if they didn't feel that the Republican Party was inherently hostile to them," Polumbo argued. "A lot of Republicans aren't. But parts of the official party platform still are."

READ MORE:'Homophobia always will be' a key part of 'MAGA populism': journalist

Read Brad Polumbo's full interview with the New York Times at this link (subscription required).

United States District Judge Ronnie Greer filed a temporary restraining order against Tennessee's top law enforcement officials Friday in favor of "calling for protections for" an upcoming local Pride event, The Messenger reports.

"This ruling reinforces that drag performance is constitutionally-protected expression under the First Amendment, regardless of where in the state it is performed," American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Tennessee Legal Director Stella Yarbrough told The Messenger. "To anyone else seeking to restrict the constitutional right of drag performance – you'll see us in court."

Blount Pride board president Ari Baker added, "Our goal with Blount Pride has always been simply to provide a safe place for LGBTQ people to connect, celebrate, and share resources. This ruling allows us to fully realize Blount Pride's goal of creating a safe place for LGBTQ people to connect, celebrate, and share resources. We appreciate the community support and look forward to celebrating with you all on Saturday."

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Ahead of Blount Pride, Tennessee District Attorney Ryan K. Desmond, Blount County Sheriff James Berrong, Maryville Police Chief Tony Crisp, and Aloca Police Chief David Carswell, according to the report, threatened "organizers with legal action under Tennessee's Adult Entertainment Act, the state's ban on drag shows or performances."

ACLU-TN filed the "joint lawsuit on behalf of Blount Pride and the Christian artist and drag performer Flamy Grant on Wednesday, calling for protections for the county's pride event," according to the report.

Per The Messenger, Greer said in his decision, "District Attorney Desmond argues that the State of Tennessee has a 'well-recognized, compelling interest 'in safeguarding the physical and psychological well-being of . . . [its] minor[s]' and that temporary restraining order would impede them from protecting 'the wellbeing of its youth.' But, for one thing, District Attorney Desmond appears to concede that Plaintiffs would pose no harm to children through their onstage performances."

Additionally, the report notes that "Greer also banned the group from interfering in the event in any way, including discouraging anyone from attending."

READ MORE: 'What can we stand up for?': NC Bar president faces backlash after canceling drag trivia night

The Messenger's full report is available at this link.

Federal prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence for former Florida Republican state lawmaker Joe Harding, author of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, who plead guilty in March to charges including wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to fraudulently obtain $150,000 in COVID relief during the pandemic.

“Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Keen filed a sentencing memo asking the courts to put the disgraced lawmaker behind bars,” Florida Politics reports. “Federal guidelines and sentencing in similar cases suggest Harding should spend eight to 14 months in federal prison. But Keen said Harding’s cooperation with investigators may warrant cutting him some slack.”

Given the charges, Harding could have been looking at 35 years in prison, according to a March press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida.

But prosecutors also cite Harding’s “genuine remorse and exceptional acceptance of responsibility,” suggesting it could warrant a lower sentence.

“In this case, the need for general deterrence is the most important factor, and it weighs in favor of a guideline sentence,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Keen wrote. “However, the Government acknowledges that mitigating circumstances — including Harding’s genuine remorse and exceptional acceptance of responsibility — may warrant a downward variance.”

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Harding, now 36, was a construction project manager who started his own lawn care company. He quickly became a right-wing darling after his anti-LGBTQ legislation, officially the Parental Rights in Education Act, was embraced by Florida GOP Governor Ron DeSantis, who signed it into law.

Harding’s still active social media account on X, formerly known as Twitter, has a pinned post from March of 2022 that reads: “To the parents of Florida: I stand with you and I see you. I’m sorry that there are people like below that want to take away your rights, sexualize your 6 year olds and lie to you.”

The end of his bio on X reads: “sponsor of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, ‘Don’t say….'”

In late August, Canadian government officials in Ottawa warned gay and transgender Canadians about traveling to parts of the United States —where, they warned, laws that could negatively affect them have been passed. The officials emphasized the need to know the laws of any U.S. states they plan to visit.

In an op-ed published by The Guardian on September 1, New York State-based broadcast journalist Dan Clark (who hosts the program "New York NOW" for PBS affiliate WMHT-TV) argues that Canada's warning was totally justified. Clark laments that in 2023, anti-gay attitudes from the far right are now causing him to fear for his safety.

"When I came out of the closet in rural Upstate New York almost two decades ago," Clark explains, "I never thought I'd go back in. I was wrong. In the last few months, I've started to change my appearance to accommodate a growing hostility toward the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S. — even in New York, a state often touted as a beacon for queer communities."

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Clark cites specific incidents that trouble him.

"I started to change how I present myself in public this spring, when someone approached my open car window in traffic, screamed a slur in my face, and walked away without another thought," the broadcaster notes. "I was shaken…. Laura Ann Carleton, a 66-year-old woman from California, was shot dead in August after her killer took issue with an LGBTQ+ pride flag that was hung outside the store she'd owned and operated for the last decade."

Clark continues, "She had a husband and a family. At least 15 transgender and gender non-conforming people have been violently killed this year alone, according to data compiled by the Human Rights Campaign, in some cases in possible hate crimes."

The broadcast journalist points out that "threats of violence against the LGBTQ+ community," according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), "have been on the rise."

READ MORE:DeSantis defends widely-criticized anti-LGBTQ ad

"The agency even warned that public spaces, and healthcare sites, could be the site of an attack," Clark laments. "And now, Canada is warning its LGBTQ+ residents that some states in the U.S. have enacted laws and policies that may affect them, creating a new, unspoken guidance for our queer neighbors to the north: be careful."

READ MORE:NC governor vetoes 'dangerous, cruel and deeply unpopular' anti-LGBTQ+ bills

Read Dan Clark's full op-ed for The Guardian at this link.

Claiming Canada’s new warning to its LGBTQ people is a “political” attack on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and not an “actual concern,” several Fox News hosts on Thursday delivered caustic commentary against the Canadian government and U.S. cities including LGBTQ-friendly San Francisco and New York.

“Well, they’re talking about Florida, right? They’re aiming this at Ron DeSantis, and the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which is one of the most ridiculous interpretations of that bill that I’ve ever seen,” declared Fox News guest host Michele Tafoya, the former NBC Sports reporter who kicked off her political career with a “controversial stand on race relations.”

After mentioning that the NAACP had issued a travel warning for LGBTQ people thinking of visiting Florida, Tafoya insisted, “this is all very much, this is very political, and it’s misdirected.”

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“I think they need to be a little more concerned about countries in the Middle East who throw LGBTQ types off buildings and disrupt weddings and don’t even allow us to think about it,” she continued. “So this is, it’s rich coming from Canada, that banned certain people from thinking and talking certain ways to suggest that you might be in danger here.”

“I can’t think of a single law that has anyone in danger for being part of the LGBTQ community,” Tafoya, who holds a masters in business administration, added.

The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona, who posted the videos below, pointed to an ACLU report titled: “Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in U.S. State Legislatures.” It notes the civil rights organization “is tracking 496 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S.” The report lists 10 anti-LGBTQ bills in Florida, including four that have already passed into law, one of which is being fought in court.

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As the discussion continued, Fox News host Dagen McDowell claimed Canada is “clearly worried about people’s feelings and not their physical safety. Because there are other countries, New Zealand, Australia, and France, have warned their citizens about violent crimes and shootings in our cities. That’s an actual concern.”

“If Canada was worried about anybody coming to the United States, say, ‘Hey, be careful if you go to places that have historically been friendly to the, and I gotta get this right because Canada again, turned it around, 2SLGBTQI+, San Francisco, New York City, you will get injured if you come here. So they rather than caring about again, safety, that should be in the warning and you mentioned yep, Canada is your, Jordan Peterson has to go through some social media reeducation, which is like Soviet Union Gulag-era nonsense. Well done. Oh, when you can only have two beers a week.”

“I also find it rich, Kennedy, that the morality police emanating from Canada don’t turn them around,” added yet another host.

Watch the videos below or at this link.

READ MORE: Praising ‘Servant’ DeSantis, Fox News Host Says He’s ‘Suspended’ His Campaign to Return to Florida Amid Crises

A Texas judge on Friday temporarily blocked state Republican-backed legislation that was set to ban "gender-affirming care for most minors" beginning September 1, CNN reports.

"We are invigorated by the court's decision to protect and uphold the rights of trans youth, their families, and health care providers in Texas," Alex Sheldon, executive director at the LGBTQ+ health advocacy group GLMA said, according to the report.

CNN reports:

Senate Bill 14, signed in to law by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in June, bars health care providers from providing gender transition surgeries, puberty blocking medication or hormone therapies to those under 18 in Texas, with violators at risk of losing their licenses.

The law makes minor exceptions for children who had begun receiving non-surgical gender-affirming care before June 1 and underwent 12 or more sessions of mental health counseling or psychotherapy six months prior to beginning prescription drug care. Transgender youth to whom those exceptions apply can continue their care but must 'wean' off from the treatment with the help of their doctor.

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According to the report, District Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel said the law "'likely violates' three different sections of the Texas Constitution, including 'the fundamental right of parents to make decisions concerning the care, custody, and control of their children."

Furthermore, Hexsel "wrote in the temporary injunction issued Friday that the law would result in 'the loss of access to safe, effective, and medically necessary treatment for transgender adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria.'

READ MORE: Texas AG’s probe into trans care is based on illegal release of kids’ medical records: report

CNN's full report is available at this link.

Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Administrator Glen Gilzean on Wednesday revealed that the state-run agency which oversees The Walt Disney Company's land "expects to more than triple what it spends in legal fees next year following a high-profile battle between the entertainment giant and Governor Ron DeSantis," Politico's Kimberly Leonard reports.

CFTOD "anticipates it'll spend $4.5 million in legal fees in 2024, after already incurring $1.9 million in costs this year," Leonard writes. "The figures were presented as part of the district's larger budget proposal," which Leonard notes "come as a result of dueling lawsuits between Walt Disney World and the board, whose members were hand-picked by DeSantis. The governor put new leaders in charge after the Walt Disney Co. publicly opposed a bill he signed into law limiting when and how educators can teach LGBTQ topics in public schools."

Leonard recalls that "Disney sued in federal court in April, alleging retaliation against its right to speech, and the board filed a dueling lawsuit in state court."

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Gilzean, Leonard continues, "also laid out $16 million in planned cuts as part of his presentation, largely achieved through cutting the millage rate, or tax rate, that'll affect how much people and businesses pay in property taxes in the district. Due to higher property values, the move won't necessarily reduce what area homeowners and businesses pay in property taxes but will keep the payments from going up next year as much as they otherwise would."

Leonard says that "one of the more contentious budget items set to be excised was $2.5 million in Disney World perks for roughly 400 district employees, a tab the district picked up for decades. One firefighter who spoke during the public comment period in the meeting broke down in tears over the change, saying he otherwise couldn’t afford to take his family to the parks."

The 27-year old man suspected of shooting and killing a 66-year old California store owner and mother of nine after confronting her for the LGBTQ pride flag outside her shop has been identified as a right-wing conspiracy theorist who promoted Christian nationalism and shared anti-LGBTQ content on social media.

“Travis Ikeguchi, 27, shot Laura Ann Carleton, 66, on Friday after ‘yelling many homophobic slurs’ about the store’s pride flag, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said at a news conference Monday,” VICE reports Tuesday, calling the suspect “a far-right conspiracy theorist who shared deeply anti-LGBTQ and antisemitic content on his social media accounts.”

Police tracked Ikeguchi after he fled the scene. He was shot in a “lethal force encounter,” according to police.

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“When deputies confronted Travis Ikeguchi on foot about a mile from the store Friday night, he opened fire on them, striking multiple squad cars, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus told reporters,” the Associated Press adds. “Deputies returned fire and shot Ikeguchi, who died at the scene, Dicus said. No deputies were hurt.”

“An LGBTQ group in nearby Lake Arrowhead said Carleton didn’t identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community,” the AP also reports. “But she spent time helping and advocating for everyone, and she was defending her Pride flags placed in front of her shop on the night of the shooting, the group said.”

VICE reports it reviewed the suspect’s “social media accounts on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, and the far-right social network Gab.”

They “show that the shooter had fully embraced a wide range of conspiracy theories—from claiming the 9/11 attacks were staged to suggestions that former first lady Michelle Obama is a man to denying climate change. He also posted content opposing gun control measures.”

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He also shared “anti-LGBTQ content, reposting and responding to content shared by right-wing figures like commentator Matt Walsh and fringe networks like One America News.”

While social media platforms often shutter accounts of those suspected of engaging in shootings or other killings, an account bearing Ikeguchi’s name, created in 2015, is still active on X. Its pinned post from June 13 shows an LGBTQ pride flag in flames. Atop the post is the question, “What to do with the LGBTQP flag?”

That social media account also posted or reposted anti-abortion, anti-vaccine, and anti-police comments.

The Texas Observer’s Steven Monacelli noted that the account that bears the suspect’s name on X “shared anti-LGBTQ content online including a post from Protect Texas Kids, an anti-LGBTQ activist group led by a self-described Christian Fascist.”

Watch CNN’s report from Monday night below or at this link.

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, currently polling 40 points behind GOP 2024 presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, in a rare TIME magazine interview refused to answer a reporter’s question about what he would do if one of his three children were LGBTQ – but he did spend time promoting his parents’ rights platform.

“I think we were viewed, really from Day One, as the candidate that had the strong record on the issues important to parents,” the Florida Republican told TIME’s national political correspondent Molly Ball in a 30-minute interview at the Iowa State Fair published Wednesday.

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, currently polling 40 points behind GOP 2024 presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, in a rare TIME magazine interview refused to answer a reporter’s question about what he would do if one of his three children were LGBTQ – but he did spend time promoting his parents’ rights platform.

“I think we were viewed, really from Day One, as the candidate that had the strong record on the issues important to parents,” the Florida Republican told TIME’s national political correspondent Molly Ball in a 30-minute interview at the Iowa State Fair published Wednesday,

“’It has been an issue, really, from the beginning,’ he says of the ‘parents’ rights’ agenda that has been central to his struggling presidential candidacy. ‘And so I do think we’ve tapped into that, and we’ll continue to do it.'”

Parents’ rights is the latest conservative code word for “family values,” as TIME’s national political correspondent Molly Ball notes.

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But it really was really a platform the Florida governor grabbed after it proved to be a winning issue for Virginia Republican Glenn Youngkin in what had been a “long-shot” gubernatorial battle. Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s infamous gaffe on parents’ rights gave new life to the Republican political novice’s campaign in September of 2021, just weeks before the election and just weeks after DeSantis announced he would run for re-election.

“As governor of Florida, DeSantis says, education policy is part of his purview, but it’s also personal,” Ball writes in her TIME interview.

DeSantis told her, “I also just see it through the lens of a dad of a six, five and three-year-old.”

“We understand some of the things that parents are concerned about and that parents are going through. And that impacts how we view these policies, particularly when it goes to things like parents’ rights to be involved in the education.”

Ball writes, “Framing it all a crusade for ‘parents’ rights’ is a neat trick politically, highlighting a throwback, traditionalist view of what used to be termed ‘family values,’ but with a very 2023 culture-war spin.”

READ MORE: DeSantis Boots Campaign Manager, Replaces With Conservative Aide Behind Governor’s Top Far-Right Policies

“Kids should be kids—there shouldn’t be an agenda,” DeSantis told Ball. “I didn’t feel like there was an agenda when I was growing up.”

Despite DeSantis’ claim that kids should be allowed to be kids, he and his wife Casey DeSantis have very publicly included their children in the campaign.

Ball reports, “I ask DeSantis about the rights of parents of trans children, who are being prevented by the state from accessing the medical care they may believe is in their kids’ best interest. He points to the ongoing debate over transgender treatment in Europe, where some experts have recently been moving away from a purely affirmative approach, arguing that the state has an interest in preventing ‘sterilizing children at age 13 or 14′ or performing sex-change surgery on minors.”

DeSantis’ remarks do not appear to be representative of heath care options for minors in the U.S., based on a May report from The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s Factcheck.org.

DeSantis continued his remarks against appropriate medical support of transgender youth.

“As a parent right now, I can’t take my six-year-old daughter and get her a tattoo, even if I want to do that,” he told Ball. “You don’t have the right to do things that are going to be destructive to kids. I think that some of these parents are being told by physicians who are making a lot of money off this that you have to do this, otherwise your kid can end up doing something like commit suicide. I think that they get bullied into thinking this is the right decision.”

READ MORE: Ron DeSantis: I Would Have Loved to Hang Out With Jesus and His Disciples – America Needs More God

LGBTQ youth suffer far higher rates of suicide ideation and suicide attempts than their non-LGBTQ counterparts.

A May, 2022 NPR report titled, “Nearly half of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide, survey finds,” specifically mentions DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.

Ball also reports DeSantis shut down her question about the possibility of his children being LGBTQ and what he would do.

She writes, “when I ask how he’ll respond if one of his children turns out to be gay or trans, his eyes flash momentarily, and he swiftly shuts down the question. ‘Well, my children are my children,’ DeSantis says. ‘We’ll leave that—we’ll leave that between my wife and I.'”

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is promoting legislation he says would codify the right to pray in public schools, which already exists, in the hope of drawing “people into more empathy and kindness.”

In an interview with local Florida ABC affiliate WEAR on Monday the Florida Republican warned the “far-left gender ideology and divisive race ideology that we’ve seen in other parts of the country has really permeated the school system.”

“I think that more space for prayer for students in schools is probably better than creating more space for, you know, the next pansexual poetry hour in Portland,” he added, warning about “degenerate content.”

Gaetz, who is under a House Ethics Committee investigation “focused on allegations that he may have engaged in sexual misconduct, illicit drug use or other misconduct,” said from personal experience he believes in the power of prayer.

“I think that in my own experiences and the experiences I’ve observed, prayer creates a sense that there is something bigger than one’s self and it draws people into more empathy and kindness,” he told WEAR.

READ MORE: Trump Next Week: ‘Major’ News Conference, GOP Debate, Arraignment on 13 Felony Charges Including RICO

The pro-Trump Florida Republican announced his intent to file the legislation in July at the far-right Turning Point Action conference in July.

“God’s reach does not stop at the schoolhouse gates,” he said, co-opting a famous 1969 Supreme Court decision that found students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

He promised, “in the coming days, I will introduce a national prayer in school law so that in every classroom in America, there will be time for students to pray if they choose. And you know what? This beautiful new Supreme Court that Trump gave us just might uphold a constitutional law like that, based on the values that this country was built on.”

During that same speech Gaetz also denigrated “the left” and transgender people.

“Are you ready not just to endure the left but to confront them in the battle space of discourse? The left’s ideas, their platforms, their candidates, heck, even some of their women just grow more sterile with every self-loathing iteration,” Congressman Gaetz told supporters before attacking transgender people. “Everything right now is so dead and boring and lame and trans – heck, even the trans want to change.”

Last week, as the Pensacola News Journal reported, Gaetz also claimed, “Our country’s education policy forbids students and faculty from praying while endlessly promoting degenerate LGBT and anti-white propaganda.”

Watch Gaetz’s remarks below or at this link.

Many of the state laws that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touts as major policy wins are being challenged in the courts, Axios reported.

The lawsuits target DeSantis' policies on abortion, trans rights, drag shows, and gender and race discussions in classrooms.

"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has cast himself as a Trump-likeconservative who's better at getting things done, but many of the state laws DeSantis touts as his biggest accomplishments are on hold, mired in court challenges," the outlet reported. "The big picture: DeSantis and his state are facing a swarm of lawsuits challenging his policies aimed at abortion, trans rights, drag shows, voting by felons, discussion of racial issues in schools and more."

The court challenges come as DeSantis' struggles in the polls against Donald Trump has him rebooting his campaign."

DeSantis' presidential campaign dismissed the court challenges, saying that "activists seek to use the court system to enact their agenda by judicial fiat because their agenda did not succeed at the ballot box."

"Ron DeSantis has the most accomplished conservative record of any candidate in the race," the campaign said in a statement.

Editor's note: This story has been changed to include additional clarifying language.

Thrice-indicted former President Donald Trump's domination of the 2024 Republican presidential primary field remains, and new polling suggests that a key reason is increased displeasure among GOP voters toward right-wing culture wars. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, for example, has championed limits on what can be taught in public schools, opposed to LGBTQ+ equality, and engaged in an economic spat with The Walt Disney Company as principal rallying cries of his White House campaign. But according toNew York Times correspondent Jonathan Weisman, that approach is failing.

"Attacks on 'wokeness' may be losing their punch," Weisman reported on Sunday. "The term has become a quick way for candidates to flash their conservative credentials, but battling 'woke' may have less political potency than they think. Though conservative voters might be irked at modern liberalism, successive New York Times/Siena College polls of Republican voters nationally and then in Iowa found that candidates were unlikely to win votes by narrowly focusing on rooting out left-wing ideology in schools, media, culture and business."

Rather, Weisman explained that "Republican voters are showing a 'hands off' libertarian streak in economics, and a clear preference for messages about 'law and order' in the nation's cities and at its borders."

READ MORE: 'What a joke': Newsom spox pans DeSantis’ debate proposal as evidence of 'insecurity and ineptitude'

Weisman recalled that in June, Trump said in Iowa that 'I don't like the term 'woke'" and that 'it's just a term they use — half the people can't even define it, they don't know what it is.'"

Weisman found that "the Times' polls suggest Mr. Trump may be right. Social issues like gay rights and once-obscure jargon like 'woke' may not be having the effect many Republicans had hoped."

Weisman noted that "when presented with the choice between two hypothetical Republican candidates" in the Times/Sienna Collegesurvey, "only 24 percent of national Republican voters opted for 'a candidate who focuses on defeating radical ‘woke’ ideology in our schools, media and culture' over 'a candidate who focuses on restoring law and order in our streets and at the border.'"

Furthermore, Weisman continued, "around 65 percent said they would choose the law and order candidate," while "among those 65 and older, often the most likely age bracket to vote, only 17 percent signed on to the 'anti-woke' crusade. Those numbers were nearly identical in Iowa, where the first ballots for the Republican nominee will be cast on Jan. 15."

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View Weisman's analysis at this link (subscription required).

The Texas drag ban is the subject of a new lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Texas on Wednesday. The ban is due to take effect next month.

Senate Bill 12 was passed by the state Senate and House on May 29, and signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Abbott on June 18. The law bans “sexually oriented performances” on public property or in the presence of anyone under 18 years old. However, the bill’s definition of “sexually oriented performances” includes “the exhibition of sexual gesticulations using accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics.” Those who violate the law could be sentenced to a year in jail and fined as much as $10,000.

An earlier draft of the bill contained language directly referring to drag, including explicitly banning “state funding to municipal libraries that host drag story hours or otherwise host events where persons presenting as the opposite sex read books to children for entertainment,” according to KUT-FM.

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Though the explicit anti-drag language was removed, the suit says the law “unconstitutionally singles out drag performances as a disfavored form of expression.”

“In its zeal to target drag, the Legislature also passed a bill so yawning in scope that it criminalizes and restricts an enormous swath of constitutionally protected activity, including theater, ballet, comedy, and even cheerleading,” the lawsuit reads.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of two LGBTQ non-profit organizations, The Woodlands Pride, Inc. and Abilene Pride Alliance; two drag entertainment production companies, Extragrams, LLC and 360 Queen Entertainment LLC; and a drag queen, Brigitte Bandit. The suit names Interim Attorney General Angela Colmenero, as well as a number of local officials. Governor Abbott is not named.

The law is similar to other drag bans that have passed in other states, which have also faced similar legal challenges. However, critics say the Texas drag ban goes even further, potentially banning artwork depicting the nude form, according to the Austin American-Statesman. For example, Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, in which the titular goddess is depicted nude upon a clamshell, could hypothetically be challenged.

A federal judge ruled Tennessee’s drag ban violated the First Amendment, calling the ordinance “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad.” In Florida, another federal judge blocked a similar law, saying it would likely run counter to the right to freedom of speech.

Travis County Attorney Delia Garza, one of the named defendants, told KUT-FM she appreciated the lawsuit, and hopes it will “bring some clarity to a law that has constitutional concerns.”

“I continue to hope that in the name of true public safety, our state leaders will one day focus on actual public safety threats, like gun violence, instead of legislation like SB12 which will have little to no effect on the day to day operations of a community and its public safety needs,” Garza continued.