Pete Buttigieg, the former Democrat presidential candidate-turned-Biden administration Transportation Secretary, appeared on The View and told former Republican strategist Ana Navarro that Florida’s new parental rights bill, called an anti-grooming bill by its proponents, will “kill kids.”
The law bans teaching advanced gender theory and sexual education to Florida children until the third grade. The word “gay” is not mentioned once in the bill, though critics almost universally refer to it as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
“In my state of Florida, with the so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law now,” said Navarro, before noting that Buttigieg is “obviously LGBTQ,” and that others have claimed the bill will “kill kids.”
She then asked if Buttigieg agrees that the bill will “kill kids.” He replied in the affirmative.
“Yeah,” said Buttigieg. “I think every law ought to be judged for the effect it’s going to have on real people in real life.”
Navarro: Do you agree that the Florida parents law will "kill kids?"
Buttigieg: That's right. pic.twitter.com/VCYsyAgAr6
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 8, 2022
Buttigieg then claimed that the law, championed by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, was created for “political reasons.” Chief among them, posited Buttigieg, is because Florida Republicans have no plan for dealing with federal issues.
“Some of those political reasons,” said Buttigieg, chuckling, “they don’t have a plan on anything else. They don’t have a plan on dealing with inflation or dealing with gas prices,” he added.
Typically, Americans look to the federal government to provide answers on gas prices and inflation, specifically the White House and its secretary of transportation.
His interviewer, Navararo, used to be a Republican strategist who appeared on cable news shows. When 45th President Donald Trump ascended to the world stage as a political figure, her fierce opposition made her a favorite among liberal leaning viewers.
Democrats have made opposition to the bill a key issue, with Disney promising an unknown amount of money to activist groups in Florida who will work to either see the bill repealed by the legislature or defeated in the courts.
DeSantis responded by suggesting that Disney’s special autonomous status in Florida may be revisited.
New York Mayor Eric Adams apparently sees the bill as an opportunity to court Americans back to New York from Florida, and unveiled a digital billboard campaign urging gay Floridians to pack up for the Big Apple.
Proponents of the newly signed law say it will prevent the “grooming” of small children, and have begun referring to those who support it as “groomers.”
