(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Florida students prepare to protest in the face of DeSantis demanding trans classmates' health info [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-17 Insider: Students across Florida are planning a statewide walkout after Gov. Ron DeSantis requested all public universities comply in delivering data from student health services on transgender students who sought gender-affirming care at the institutions. DeSantis asked to see anonymized information of any student who has experienced gender dysphoria in the past five years. In addition, he wants their ages and the dates they received gender-affirming care. The deadline to submit those records was February 10. Insider has confirmed that University of Florida, Florida State University, University of Central Florida, Florida A&M University, Florida International University, and the University of North Florida have complied with the request, but has yet to hear back from the rest. Students at these universities are now planning rallies for next week along with the statewide walkout on February 23. The walkouts are sponsored or supported by groups ranging from the state’s College Democrats chapters to the Dream Defenders, with a little help from everyone’s favorite Gen Z congressman, Rep. Maxwell Frost. The 26-year-old House freshman told Insider that "The governor's abusing his power. He's targeting folks that disagree with him—people who might not see eye to eye with him, marginalized communities." RELATED STORY: Hey DeSantis, by attacking Black history you're attacking Caribbean Floridians And the thing is, the 44-year-old Donald Trump wannabe currently squatting in the Florida governor’s mansion doesn’t see eye to eye with much of the nation as he sets aim at keeping his constituents in a bubble where nobody talks about Black history, or the LGBTQ+ community, or has to see immigrants, or or … or anything that might possibly prevent his apparent efforts to turn his fiefdom into a white Christian ethnostate where everyone’s supposed to talk about their periods, and everyone can have all the guns they want. As Daily Kos’ Kerry Eleveld wrote of DeSantis on Tuesday: So, who is this potential presidential candidate? Is he the fascist we think he is? Or is he just another crackpot politician kissing up to the right-wing faction of the Republican Party? Is he the next Donald Trump? Or the next My Pillow Guy? Only time will tell. But Florida’s students aren’t waiting. They weren’t waiting after 2018’s massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and they’re not waiting now. Here are just a few recent protest headlines we’ve seen from Florida students in recent weeks. Feb. 9: FSU, FAMU students march against Gov. DeSantis' move to dismantle diversity programs Feb. 2: University of Florida students, faculty plan to protest Monday as [former Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben] Sasse begins presidency Jan. 31: New College of Florida students, faculty, and alumni protests Gov. DeSantis' changes to campus Florida’s students will be in very good company next week. x MSU students have begun a sit in at the Michigan Capitol following the shooting at MSU, sitting in the same formation they would for lockdown drills at school. pic.twitter.com/QxjGwp3Dak — Beth LeBlanc (@DNBethLeBlanc) February 15, 2023 As they do the dirty work for DeSantis, Florida’s legislators will be shielded from future protests, in the most oppressive way possible: by stifling the First Amendment. Some protests in the state Capitol Rotunda may be banned when lawmakers meet for the Florida Legislature’s 2023 session, which is expected to be spiked with culture-war-inspired legislation in advance of an expected Gov. Ron DeSantis presidential campaign. The Department of Management Services published a Florida Administrative Code rule Feb. 14, allowing law enforcement more discretion to remove protesters from the Capitol building and charge them with trespassing. The past two regular sessions have drawn protests over the teaching of race and gender in public schools,restrictions on abortion rights, curtailment of voting rights, and the elimination of minority-access congressional districts. The rule change is expected to go into effect March 1, a week before the start of the annual 60-day legislative session, according to the Department of State and the Joint Administrative Procedures Committee, which signed off on the proposal. How American! Way to keep Florida free, Ronny D! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/17/2153500/-Florida-students-prepare-to-protest-in-the-face-of-DeSantis-demanding-trans-classmates-health-info Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/