Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has been steadfastly protecting children from sexually explicit reading material that is not age appropriate and does not belong in the classroom or school libraries. It doesn't look like he's shied away from such a mission, either. If anything, the governor has only gotten more creative in his responses when addressing claims he's banning books. While speaking to Fox News' Kayleigh McEnany on Wednesday, he made clear that he doesn't care what adults do--as he even invoked Hunter Biden's laptop--but he's for protecting children and their innocence.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the material made available to children in school libraries around the country is pornographic, with titles including "Gender Queer," "Lawn Boy," and "Flamer," just to name a few Images from those books can't be included here in the article because they are so graphic, yet children can easily get access to them.
DeSantis had perhaps his strongest, certainly his most memorable point when addressing graphic materials.
"It’s unfortunate that there’s been pornography put into schools. It’s interesting, the media will say if you take a pornographic book out of a fourth-grade classroom, that that’s somehow banning the book. No, adults can get it. It’s fine. But, you don’t jam adult material into an elementary school environment," DeSantis offered, making clear what the exact issue is. "If adults want to do adult material, they do that on their own time. Heck, they can watch Hunter Biden’s laptop for all I care. But, do not bring it to our schoolchildren."
McEnany and DeSantis had covered a wide range of topics, including how parental rights, which DeSantis affirmed "should apply nationally," are also involved when it comes to protecting children.
"What we did in Florida is the model for the country. We want education, not indoctrination and we want parents to have their rights protected. They ultimately are the ones who have the right to direct the education and upbringing of their kid. I think parents throughout this country should be able to send their kids to school without having an agenda shoved down their throat," DeSantis had also reminded. His state has passed legislation such as the Stop WOKE and the Parental Rights in Education Act, which was just expanded earlier this year.
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Such legislation has been necessary, given the woke gender ideology that schools push on impressionable young minds. "Even ten years ago, nobody would have thought that you would go to a second-grade classroom and teach a second grader that they can change genders. First of all, it’s not true. Second of all, it’s totally inappropriate," DeSantis said.
When it comes to how those parents rights would, in fact, "apply nationally," with involvement from Congress, DeSantis offered that "there are some strings in terms of federal funding that people take," as he also reminded that his "bottom line for me is, I'm going to be on the side of parents, I’m going to be on the side of having curriculum that is rooted in academic achievement, not in somebody’s social agenda and parents have the right to inspect the curriculum."
DeSantis, who is running for president, also discussed the issue as part of a bigger picture. "It’s also a larger thing is about the health of our country. We’re not going to be able to reverse our country’s decline unless we get our education system back on proper footing," he said, making similar comments that he's made while campaigning, including when he officially announced.
(4/4) DeSantis also noted this regarding Hunter’s laptop: “If adults want to do adult material, they do that on their own time. They can watch Hunter Biden's laptop for all I care, but do not bring it to our school children.” pic.twitter.com/Y3Q6bffUMA
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) September 6, 2023
DeSantis has addressed the inappropriate material before, also in a memorable way. Back in March, DeSantis held a press conference to expose the book ban hoax. As he showcased the material in question, news broadcasts had to cut their feed and Twitter had warning messages about "potentially sensitive content." Such books were found in 23 school districts in Florida. As Julio highlighted, of the 175 books removed across the state, 93 percent were removed from media centers and 87 percent were identified as pornographic, violent, or inappropriate for their grade level.
That parental involvement comes into play here as well.
As Guy pointed out when explaining leftist reactions to a supposed "book ban," Florida law is a response to demands from parents who actually want to know what materials are available to their children. School districts must report to the state any books that parents have challenged as inappropriate, The Washington Times highlighted earlier this year about the law.
"If people believe it's appropriate to have materials about drug-fueled orgies available to elementary schoolers, they're welcome to make that argument. Florida law now says that parents have a right to know that such materials are available, and to object," Guy wrote in February.
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