HEALEY RIPS DESANTIS
Backs Biden as 2024 election sizzles
Gov. Maura Healey tore into Ron DeSantis, saying the Florida leader’s stances on education have been “really shameful,” particularly his controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law, which the nation’s first openly-lesbian governor described as nonsense.
In a Thursday interview on GBH’s Boston Public Radio, Healey said she would support Democrat President Joe Biden if he were to run for another term. She also characterized Gov. DeSantis, a possible 2024 Republican presidential candidate, as someone who wants to take the country “backwards.”
“The idea of punishing, you know, punishing people for some of the things that he talks about,” Healey said. “This whole Don’t Say Gay nonsense, his positions around education, the canceling of coursework on African-American history.
“I think it’s really shameful, and it certainly does a disservice to the residents of Florida, ultimately.”
Healey, a Democrat, was referring to Florida’s controversial law that prohibits teaching and discussion related to sexual orientation and gender identity in K-3 public school classrooms — and later grades if this content is taught in a manner that is not age-appropriate.
The governor’s remarks follow action she took as attorney general in August, when she joined 15 other
AGs in filing a lawsuit that challenged the legality of this law, which went into effect on July 1.
“Florida’s hate-fueled law is the censorship of LGBTQ+ issues at a time when school committees should be creating an environment that is inclusive of everyone,” Healey said in a statement at the time.
On Thursday, Healey said she has the “most diverse cabinet in history,” full of state workers who are looking to support and further the goals of diversity and inclusivity.
Healey compared her administration’s objective to
the “denigration” she’s seen “by the likes of Ron DeSantis and others for the members of the LGBTQ community.”
“We’re going to be really strong here in Massachusetts, and making sure that people are protected and that they’re safe, and that they’re respected and given all the opportunity they deserve,” Healey said.
Healey also referenced DeSantis, though not by name, earlier in the interview, when describing “certain governors around this country” who are looking to take this country backwards, “tear us down and
tear us apart” in terms of recognizing Black history.
“Black history is American history,” Healey said. “We are going to be proud and grateful to our Black community here in Massachusetts and find ways to celebrate and support.”
She later expanded on those remarks, referencing DeSantis’ recent move to reject the nationwide teaching of an Advanced Placement African American Studies course.
The Florida governor said the course pushes a political agenda, adding that his administration rejected it because “we want education, not indoctrination” and because it violated the Stop WOKE Act he signed last year, the Associated Press reported.
This law bars instruction that defines people as necessarily oppressed or privileged based on their race, AP reported.
Last month, the College Board revised the course curriculum, removing certain topics like the movement for Black lives, and scholars associated with critical race theory and the Black queer experience, according to an MSNBC columnist.
Healey, when asked to share her thoughts on DeSantis
on Boston Public Radio, remained coy at first saying that her focus was on the people of Massachusetts, and that her mother taught her not to say anything “if you can’t say something nice.”
But she later relented when speaking about Massachusetts as a bedrock in the United States, which takes “seriously democracy and civil rights and protecting freedoms.”
“And that’s what we will continue to live by and aspire to in the face of some out there who want to take us backwards and that includes the likes of Gov. DeSantis,” Healey said.