When intolerance, hate and homophobia are on the menu

The much greater danger to those kids at Rosie’s wasn’t what was on the menu. It’s what’s in the intolerant hearts and hurtful minds of people who attacked online out of ignorance, bigotry and fear.

A field trip by grade-school students to a popular local restaurant should not trigger an ugly explosion of hatred, homophobia and death threats against an elected official. But it did. Welcome to America in 2021.

Broward School Board member Sarah Leonardi chaperoned a group of kindergarten students to Rosie’s Bar and Grill, a gay-owned restaurant in Wilton Manors, a thriving and vibrant community with a sizable gay population. The trip was part of a school project, “How We Organize Ourselves,” to teach kids how businesses work, and basic financial literary skills, like how to leave a tip.

Rosie’s, a short walk from Wilton Manors Elementary School, opened early on Oct. 27 and provided a special kids’ menu — not its adult menu featuring food items with double entendre names like “Ivana Hooker.” The bar was closed at the time, and every parent whose child attended signed a permission slip for the tour, which has been held annually for the past nine years.

But none of those facts mattered to the haters who flocked to social media and verbally attacked Leonardi, threatened her life and demanded that she be removed from office and prosecuted for child abuse. After she posted photos of the visit, a news story went viral about a field trip to a “gay bar.”

One publication, The Christian Post, smeared Rosie’s as “a notorious gay bar.” How Christian.

Fanning the flames of intolerance was Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief spokesperson, Christina Pushaw, who tweeted: “Broward School Board member takes little kids to a gay bar on a field trip, forcing them to wear masks ‘to keep them safe,’ ” along with a picture of the grownups’ menu that the kids never saw.

On Leonardi’s official Facebook account are nearly 1,000 comments, many vicious and homophobic, some accusing her of child abuse and being a pedophile. It’s sick stuff that reflects the times in which we live.

Many postings are from faraway places — Arkansas, California, Ohio, Texas, West Virginia. Showing social media at its lowest, comments perpetuated ugly stereotypes about “immorality” with references to Rosie’s as a “pedophile paradise.”

“You should be arrested for child abuse!” wrote Darian Fisher, whose Facebook account describes him as a police officer in Cumming, Georgia. “I hope Governor Ron DeSantis sees this and takes immediate action.”

Seth Nichols of Gatesville, Texas, wrote: “What’s next? Jr (Junior) high to strip club, high school to the dope house? You are what’s wrong with this country.”

We know what’s wrong with this country. It’s people who use misinformation to sow division, intolerance and mistrust of basic institutions such as schools, which are under siege across the country because of manufactured controversies over critical race theory and a backlash against COVID19 mask mandates.

Now, some good news: This community is much better than that.

Broward parents, including those whose kids were on the field trip, strongly defended the school district and thanked Rosie’s for hosting it.

“We are about compassion, kindness and love here,” parent Carrie Fricker told the Sun Sentinel.

The larger threat is obvious. It’s a rightwing crusade to undermine the independence of local school districts and their elected leaders.

Florida Republicans have announced plans to target school board elections in 2022. GOP legislators will push a bill in the upcoming session to return to partisan school board elections, which Florida voters made nonpartisan in a statewide referendum in 1998.

Upstate, in Brevard County, state Rep. Randy Fine has demonized school board members who support a mask mandate and threatens to seek retribution by cutting the district’s budget. Board member Jennifer Jenkins is seeking a court injunction and accuses Fine of cyberstalking.

Leonardi, elected last fall, is an English teacher who was chosen as Coconut Creek High School’s Teacher of the Year in 2016. Her school board inbox overflowed with more vile comments.

“Shame on you, stupid bitch,” one man wrote to her. Another wrote: “Sell the bitch to ISIS as a sex slave.”

But again, others sprang to Leonardi’s defense.

“As a Wilton Manors resident and patron of Rosie’s, I want to let you know that many of us support you and love what you do for the children of our community,” one man wrote. “Thank you and keep your head high.” That’s the spirit. The much greater danger to those kids at Rosie’s wasn’t what was on the menu. It’s what’s in the intolerant hearts and hurtful minds of people who attacked online out of ignorance, bigotry and fear.

Let’s be grateful that most of them don’t live here.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.