While the left repeatedly claims that “LGBT pride” is just about love and acceptance, the latest decision to cancel a pride event contradicts those claims — as the event organizers blamed a law that protects children from explicit performances.
After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law a bill that imposes penalties on establishments that expose children to adult performances, the Tampa Pride on the River event was canceled.
The Florida governor has recently signed several anti-groomer bills that were designed to protect minors from gender ideology, especially in the form of explicit adult performances. HB 1438, entitled “Protecting Children’s Innocence,” imposes fines on businesses that allow children to attend explicit performances, such as drag shows — which the left has been increasingly pushing on minors in recent years.
Today, @GovRonDeSantis signed legislation to protect children across Florida from those who would rob them of their innocence. In Florida, we let kids be kids. pic.twitter.com/K1d57RJp6z
— Casey DeSantis (@CaseyDeSantis) May 17, 2023
The bill authorizes the Division of Hotels and Restaurants of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to “fine, suspend, or revoke the license of any public lodging establishment or public food service establishment if the establishment admits a child to an adult live performance,” according to the bill’s text.
Before signing the bill into law, DeSantis vowed that Florida would hold people accountable — noting that “there should not be any of these kids” attending “adult entertainment.”
“This is going to make sure that that’s the case,” he added, referring to the bill.
Announcing the cancellation of the pride event, Tampa Pride President Carrie West apologized for the series of events that prompted her decision — noting that drag queens would have performed at the public event, and children would have been exposed to the performances.
“Lot of famous Ru Paul drag queens that come in for the event,” West said, according to WFLA. “People come flying in for that event just to see the famous drag queens.”
“Very sad,” she added, describing it as a “fun event.”
“People already, they’ve been talking about it, they’ve been making plans to come to Tampa, fly to Tampa, drive to Tampa,” West continued, apologizing for the decision to cancel the festival, which she claimed attracts up to 20,000 visitors.
“I’m sorry that this has happened, but you are going to be the generation to make the change,” West claimed.
Many critics have noted that it is possible to still hold pride events with these laws in place, as long as the attendees act appropriately — noting that as long as there are no explicit performances or individuals dressed in inappropriate attire, celebrating pride should be fine. However, it appears that LGBT activists cannot guarantee people will abide by those rules. It is clear from footage of previous pride events that DeSantis’ new laws would be violated in numerous ways if this year’s event in Tampa followed the same pattern as others around the country.
Another pride event was canceled in Florida earlier this year for the same reasons:
