Open letter to Governor Ron DeSantis on HB1557
Dear Governor DeSantis,
We write to implore you to veto the Parents Rights in Education Bill, CS/HB 1557. This poorly written bill will strip parents of their rights and our children's education and beliefs. Democracy dies in darkness, and as we look to our East and Europe's fight and struggle for Democracy, this bill's darkness is shocking to everything we believe in as Americans.
As a Christian, I am sure that you look to Christ and his disciples as some of our history's most famous and successful teachers. I am also sure that you know Pual shared his strong belief and position on homosexuality in his writings in the Bible, now memorialized in the Book of Paul. We may vehemently disagree with Paul's beliefs. Still, Paul dared to write them and delivered on his passion for teaching those beliefs to his students. HB1557 would have stripped Paul of his rights to pen his views and teach his gospel in the State of Florida. This bill would have not just been a new sword for Pontius Pilate to swing at Christ and his believers. It would have allowed wealthy senators and their families to sue Paul, Luke, and Matthew, bankrupting them and ending their beliefs brutally. The Bible's authors dared to not hide the discussion of the existence of homosexuality but to have the debate openly. This bill would have banned Florida's children from reading the Bible in Sunday school and putting people of the cloth in the crosshairs of ruinous lawsuits. This is the reality created by this poorly written and thought-out bill.
We are also confident that you know that no matter how hard anyone tried, they could not talk your children into becoming homosexual. It would be a fool's errand because your children are not gay, and no amount of trying to talk them into it will change that fact. However, talking could save the lives of children struggling with their own questions about who they are and where they fit into our society. Silence of debate and discussion risks a drastic increase in runaways, survival sex, and prostitution. It throws fuel on the fire of the youth homelessness crisis that harms our children and the citizens of Florida. Granting their teachers the freedom of speech to teach in the open brightens our Democracy and families, betters Florida and this great Nation.
HB1557 is a lousy bill. It is poorly written and gives questionable rights to bad actors to ruin Florida's citizens with frivolous crippling lawsuits. You need only look to the struggles in Europe to see the darkness that comes from silence created by poor laws laid in a draconian government and what that means to our children. Veto HB1557 for a better Florida, a stronger Nation, and the brilliance of our children.
