Despite dozens of protesters and a previously canceled venue, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at the Jewish Leadership Conference in New York City on June 12, telling the crowd of approximately 700, “They can’t cancel me, I’m going to speak my mind.”
Many of the protesters outside the conference at Chelsea Piers held signs objecting to the governor’s appearance during Pride month, citing his Parental Rights in Education bill, or the “Don’t Say Gay Bill” as critics have dubbed it. Other signs mentioned the six-year anniversary of the shooting at Pulse, a gay club in Orlando, in which 49 people were killed. Before the governor was scheduled to speak, he had ordered flags flown at half-staff in remembrance of the Pulse shooting on June 10.
The bill protecting parental rights, signed by the governor in March, prohibits the teaching of gender and sexual identity in grades kindergarten through third grade.
