The Daily Beast Podcast - Pride Organizer Says Gay Floridians Are Leaving in Droves

Episode Date: May 30, 2023

Things are pretty bleak for the LGBTQ+ community in Florida thanks to Ron DeSantis’ blitz of hate legislation. Pride celebrations being cancelled just part of the fallout. The President and CEO of Lake County Pride, Danielle Olivani, joins TNA co-host Danielle Moodie on this episode of The New Abnormal to share why the group is moving ahead with their celebrations anyway, the pushback its gotten in spite of it, and the impact these bans have had on the community’s youth, in particular. Olivani also notes what they see as a “mass migration” out of the state because of it. Plus: Part 2 of author James Risen’s interview with TNA co-host Andy Levy, where he shares more about Senator Frank Church, the man who lead the Church Hearings against the CIA and FBI (and who Jimmy Carter called a jerk in his diaries). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, I'm Andy Levy, former Fox News and CNN-HLN guy, and current cable news conscientious objector. I'm a former libertarian who now sits pretty comfortably on the left. Hi, I'm Danielle Moody, former educator and recovering lobbyist. But today, I'm an unapologetic, woke commentator on America's threats to democracy. And I'm producer Jesse Cannon, and I'm here to make sure things don't go too far off the rails. We're here to have fun, smart conversations with some of the most knowledgeable and entertaining people in politics, media, and beyond. Our goal is to try and make sense of our current crazy world, our new abnormal, and hopefully even make you laugh through the tears. One excellent show we have today.

We'll be joined by legendary journalist James Risen of The Intercept, who's here for part two of his interview all about his new book, The Last Honest Man. Then we'll talk to Danielle Olavani, who's the founder and CEO of the Lake County Pride Florida Organization, despite fears of what could go wrong. But first, let's have some fun. So it seems as if the Republican Party is hell-bent on turning Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, and, you know, everyone, the 47 million people in this country that are suffering under student loan debt against them. And so maybe they do want to run forward with Vivek Ramoswamy's idea of, you know, banning 25 and under from being able to vote unless they serve in the military. Because when you move, which is what the House did under Fisher Price Speaker Kevin McCarthy, to deliberately block the student loan forgiveness program that is a quarterstone of Joe Biden's

re-election and is promised to young people. And you decide to do that and don't really think twice about it and kick it back up to the Supreme Court. I mean, it's really telling. And I tweeted this the other day, Andy, where I said, you know, tell me that we don't live in a banana republic when you have a Supreme Court justice of the United States who has a billionaire benefactor that is paying for his mama's house and is adoptive son's very high-priced private school tuition that this man has the ability to decide whether the rest of us should stay suffering in student loan debt. How the fuck does that make sense to anybody? Yeah, I can't answer

that part because it doesn't. I guess the good news here is that yes, this passed the house, I don't know that it's going to pass the Senate, but even if it does, President Biden has said, will veto it. And in looking at the vote total in the House, 218 to 203, I don't think that there would be votes to bypass a presidential veto. So I think ultimately everything is going to be okay here, which, of course, doesn't change the fact that, as you said, 218 members of the House of Representatives, 216 of whom were Republicans, we should probably look into the fact that the two Democrats who decided this was a good idea, Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Glucentcamp Perez of Washington. Interesting, concerning, as people say. Part of this bill that the Republicans passed, it not only

overturns President Biden's plan of canceling the 20 grand for, you know, everyone who borrowed. It would end the pause that has been in effect on payments, and it would prevent the education department from pursuing similar policies in the future as the Washington Post reports. And so, you know, again, like it's not even this time. They can't even just concern themselves with this time. They have to fuck it up for the foreseeable future as well, because that's what they do. I find it so sickening that people continue to vote for the Republican Party. Like, I know that I should not go down this rabbit hole. But my God, the cornerstone of any. successful nation is built upon the education of that citizenry. Like, we already know that our

K through 12 education, as we're seeing Republicans pick this apart, is paltry compared to global standards. And so now you tell young people for decades, decades, the only path that I was told that I had was college. Like, even a vocation wasn't on the table, right? Like, if you want to be, quote, unquote successful, you have to go to college. We told kids this and it was the biggest fucking trap for them because you go to college and now you're saddled in six figures worth of debt and then you're struggling to get an entry level job that is not even going to cover what it is that you have to begin paying back. And so the relief that $20,000, even if you are six figures in debt, because you have you're a really pricey undergraduate degree, maybe you have a really pricey undergraduate degree,

maybe you also got your master's degree. $20,000 of wiping away gives so much life to people and will put that money back into the economy. This is supposed to be the fiscally responsive crew, but they only really give a fuck about making sure that the rich and the ultra-rich continue to just float sky high above the rest of us who are suffering.

It's like cruelty just is the point. And I really need Democrats to sell this to the American people that it's not just Democrats that take out fucking student loans. Do you know what I'm saying? So I just, I don't understand the logic here. But I guess they just don't want the country to be successful at all so that they can usher in their straw man, their dictator. Okay.

So here's my take on it. This is one time when I don't think the cruelty is the point because I think the point is they don't want people to go to college. They don't want people to get educated. It's the same thing. it's another version of what Ronda Santis is doing in Florida with gutting the educational system. They don't want an intelligent, I shouldn't say intelligent because college doesn't give you intelligence. They don't want an educated populace.

They don't want people to know what has gone on before in this country and have the ability to relate it to certain things that are going on today. Those are the kinds of things they don't want. And look, we can talk for forever about the college. and university system portion of the blame here with the ridiculous costs that they impose on students. I'm going to set that aside only for purposes of this discussion, but not because it's unimportant, because it's very important. But let's talk about this. You see, there is a lot of rhetoric on the right about how college is worthless. If it were up to them, you know, and they talk a lot about how, oh, you know, look at these worthless liberal arts degrees. They don't lead to jobs.

That's probably true. Not the worthless part, but the part about not leading to jobs. But I'll tell you what a liberal arts education does. And again, and I'm saying this without minimizing the importance of science and math and just STEM in general. But a liberal arts education and studying stuff like that, in a way, it teaches you how to think or it teaches you how to question. Yeah, how to question and to vet your sources and to, you know, recognize that when you're reading something from, I don't know, say the Federalist, that they're going to say things that probably are very far from the truth. So A, the right doesn't want that. And so they denigrate the point of a liberal arts education because they, again, they don't want people who can think critically.

And, you know, they want people who are just susceptible to their propaganda and to just the outright lies that they sell. So I don't think, you know, this is one of the instances. I really don't think the cruelty is the point. I think the point is what they want is a population. You know, they talk a lot about the importance of college for getting jobs and vocational training and whatever. And look, I am not minimizing the importance in a capitalist society of having a job and making money. Believe me, that is not the sole purpose of college. There are so many sort of secondary positive effects of a higher education. A random example. I grew up in a town on Long Island that was, I would say it was vast majority was Italian, Roman Catholic, Irish, Irish Catholic, and a decent

minority of Jews. One black person in my high school that I could think of, that's out of a high school of over 2,000 people. That was my upbringing. That was the first 18 years of my life. That's a very narrow upbringing. And going to college widen my horizons. You know, it widened my horizons and introduced me to people of color. It forced me to learn. that Catholic and Christian are not synonyms because everyone I grew up with was Catholic and I had no idea that that didn't just mean Christian. You know, I think there was one wasp in my high school. I think he was like the only Protestant I knew. There are things like that, like these secondary effects that I think are so important as you go through life to have those experiences and to sort

of make you realize that, oh, you know, my life experience and the things I think are not the same as everyone else is. And that's important to know. But again, they don't, you know, the right doesn't want you to think like that. Yeah, you're absolutely right, Andy. I didn't think about it in that way that it isn't just about the cruelty around the money and wanting people, wanting a certain class of people to suffer, but it is really about the exposure. They want people to live a very narrow, a very pale, a very rigid life. Even Ron DeSantis in his language, when he was talking about how he is destroying the secondary education system in Florida, said, we're going to stick to the quote-unquote basics.

The fuck does that mean? Right. We're going to stick to the basics because the world isn't sticking to the basics. So I'm wondering how people who choose to go to college in Florida or who have no choice because it's their in-state tuition that will keep them there are going to be able to be globally competitive. But to your point, it really is about the exposure to other cultures. other ideas, other people, other ways of thinking and living and existing. And that is what college did. Like you grew up on Long Island. I was one of 10 black kids in my graduating class. My graduating class

was 11005. Went to one of the largest school districts on Long Island at that time. And it was being the only one in all of my classes until I went to college, but I still went to a predominantly white university, but it did expose me because my campus outside of Washington, D.C., had these kids that were coming in from all around the world to attend school because their parents were diplomats or ambassadors or what have you. And so they were in this, you know, Arlington, Virginia area. And so it just opened my eyes in so many ways, but that's the point. They want to ban books. They want to cut curriculum because they want your eyes to remain closed so that you can remain fearful so that you can remained under their control.

Speaking of narrow-minded people and how the right wants you to be that, the head of the oath keepers, Stuart Rhodes, was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for his role in the January 6th insurrection. This is the longest sentence that any one-six defendant has received so far. It was less than what the government wanted. I think they wanted 25 years. The judge in this case, before he gave out the sentence, as NBC Newsrenews, reports. He said, you, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country and to the

republic and to the very fabric of this democracy. So he gets 18 years for seditious conspiracy. And again, he is calling himself a political prisoner and much of the right is calling him a political prisoner. And we know that if Donald Trump is our next president, oh, it's so painful to say, that he will probably pardon Rhodes. Ron DeSantis has now made noise about pardoning some of the January 6th people. So yet another reason not to vote for those guys. But in the meantime, I guess we can say this is some good news. I guess that it is, but I want to bring people's attention to this. You know, I had this conversation with a friend of mine. And I was just like, who happens to be Muslim. And he was just like, can you imagine if the people who attempted to overthrow our democracy

on January 6th were, one, people of color, but also were affiliated with Islam? Do you think that they would have gotten 18 years in prison? Or do you think that they would have gotten like multiple consecutive life sentences? And, you know, again, I think they would have all died on January 6th. Well, I mean, yes. I saw, yeah. Aside from the fact that there would have been chalk outlines before they even reach the steps of the Capitol, like, which every person of color, like, is fully fucking aware of. Just look at how they treated Black Lives Matter protesters on Lothiaeat Park. So Donald Trump could take a fucking photo op with a book he don't read in front of a church he don't attend.

When you think about it, because when I saw the sentencing, I was like, great, 18 years, you know? because for me, a white person trying to overthrow the government getting above a slap on the wrist, getting above a, that's okay, son. You know, here's some community service is like, you know, is a win. So when I saw the 18 years for Rhodes, I was just like, oh, this is fantastic. You know, great. But when I listened to my friend who was just like, uh-huh. And so if this were 9-11, you know, what do you think would have happened to the quote unquote masterminds behind this. attack on the Capitol building. I mean, it's just the white supremacy, the treatment of white criminals is just so much better than innocent people of color just wanting basic protections and rights in this country. And so it's a win-ish. Like, that's what it is. Because in all honesty, this judge should have given what the Department of Justice wanted for the three people that were sentenced, that were part of the oathkeepers, the Department of Justice wanted 25 years for Rhodes, like you said.

They wanted 24 years for another person's shorts who only got 14. And they wanted 17 years for another person, Webster, who only got 10. Do you know what I'm saying? So when do you ever see a person of color? So the prosecution is saying, oh, well, we want 25 years. And then the white judge turned around to a black defendant and be like, that's okay, son. We're going to give you five fucking ears. What? That would never happen. And the fact that that would never happen is what makes me look at this and say, I mean, I guess it's the longest sentencing and we should, I guess, applaud the Department of Justice for actually doing their job and going all in. But I mean, come on. You try to overthrow the government. We haven't seen that since the Civil War. And you're getting, you'll still be out in your 70s.

Yeah, there's a sort of well-worn phrase, the soft bigotry of low expectations. And it's usually used to talk about in the way it was intended. It's expecting less from members of a disadvantaged group. And the theory goes that you therefore encourage the members of that group to not reach their full potential. I'm going to use it here, not quite in the same way. But I think that's why I'm, you know, and like you said, you're like at first, Blotch, you're like, oh, 18 years, that's amazing. I think we have, you know, sort of this soft bigotry of low expectations when it comes to

white people being charged with stuff like this. Yeah. So 18 years sounds amazing. But you're, you know, you're entirely right. If you think about this in the larger landscape, 18 years ain't nothing for seditious conspiracy, you know, which is a nice little code for attempting to overthrow the government. Right. But, you know, we're so attuned to this not happening.

even to this extent that it's like, damn, 18 years? Because 18 years is, at least it's a real sentence. Like he said, it's not picking up trash on the side of a highway. We're at the point where if the verdict had been guilty and the sentencing was picking up trash on the side of the highway, we'd be like, here we go again. We'd be pissed, but we wouldn't be surprised. So yes, I agree. I agree with your friend and I agree with you that if you actually stop and think about this,

Muslims were thrown into Gitmo for not only far less than this, but in some cases, as we have found out, for absolutely nothing other than being Muslim. And, you know, we're subject to torture for decades. And I don't want to talk about this only in the past tense because there are still people there who haven't been charged with a damn thing. So, yes, if you look at this writ large 18 years in a federal penitentiary suddenly seems not half bad. But I guess the only thing I can say is baby steps, you know? I guess it is baby steps. And also, you know, not to gloss over the fact that you have candidates that are running for president that are saying that they're going to pardon people. Yeah.

Who attempted to overthrow our government who beat and killed law enforcement, who caused millions of dollars worth of damage, like post-traumatic stress disorder. and you have people running on this. Like that is, I just want people to, that is not fucking normal. And we continue to just consume all of their hatred and their anti-democratic sentiments as if it's normal political discourse.

It is not normal for somebody to run for president saying that they're going to pardon people who attempted to murder law enforcement and overthrow our democracy. That is insane. It's insane. Look, I agree. it's not normal but you know what it is it's the new abnormal see you on Friday folks

see you on Friday folks he did it again everyone did it again in our last episode we aired part one of my interview with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist James Risen about his fabulous new book the last honest man the CIA the FBI the mafia and the Kennedys and one senators fight to save democracy in part two Ryzen goes into more of what the church committee uncovered explores the Intelligence Committee reforms it led to and talks about how it's viewed today. Then we get to the FBI. And as you say in the book, the committee started off being solely about the CIA, but Senator Church and others quickly realized their investigations needed to be expanded. So here we are. We're a couple of years after the death

of Jay Edgar Hoover. And finally, FBI operations like Cointel Pro get exposed in a process that you point out, Walter Mondell, who was a member of the committee, was really overseeing the FBI stuff. And as you write, the headline here from the church committee is the exposure of the FBI's long campaign to spy on and discredit the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Which, as you also note, was an abuse of such historic proportions that the FBI is still struggling with its legacy more than 50 years later. Right. Talk to me about Mike Epstein. Yeah, Mike Epstein was a fascinating character. He was a young lawyer from Massachusetts who in the early 1960s went to work for the Kennedy administration.

administration at the Justice Department. While he was at the Justice Department under Robert F. Kennedy, the Attorney General, he began to hear rumors about what the FBI and the Justice Department were doing to Mark Luther King, Jr. And he didn't really know all the details, but he decided that someday he was going to investigate that. And so he joined the Church Committee very early on, and his sole mission was to investigate what the FBI had done to Martin Luther King. He didn't know much at first, but he knew all the people who he had to talk to. He knew people from the FBI and from the Justice Department from his days at DOJ. And so he single-handedly made sure that whole story got uncovered.

It became, along with the investigation of the CIA's assassination plots, the FBI's harassment and Mark Luther King Jr. became one of the two landmark investigations of the Church Committee. And it really changed and altered the public's perception of the FBI ever since. So let's talk about the overall record of the committee. You write that Church saw the committee's task as to act as kind of a constitutional convention, debating the proper balance between national security and civil liberties. Did it succeed in that? I think to some degree it did because we had never as a country, you know, in the post-World War II era,

we had allowed an intelligence community and a military industrial complex to grow without any real public debate at all. The Congress had never tried to discuss the limits of the power of the intelligence community or the power of the Pentagon or the power of defense contractors or multinational corporations. And so we had a whole new national security apparatus in the United States that had grown enormously without any debate. And the Church Committee, for the very first time, had that debate. How much of this should we continue to have? What is its impact on the civil liberties and privacy rights of American citizens?

And as a result of its investigations and its hearings led to a number of legislative changes, new laws, and a lot of executive orders and other administrative changes that really reigned in the power of the intelligence community. The intelligence community has violated those rules many times since and often egregiously, but there are still rules that for the first time exist. Yeah, I thought it was interesting that many of these achievements that you mentioned in terms of oversight came to fruition during the Carter administration because judging from your book, the two men, Carter and Church, were not exactly BFFs. No. Church ran against Carter in the 1976 Democratic primaries and lost. And then Church thought he had a good chance to be Carter's running mate. And Carter chose Mondale instead, who was also on the Church Committee. Church and Carter really, after Carter became president, they really hated each other. Carter confided his journal, his diary, how much he just thought that church was a total jerk. Yet, because the Democrats had such overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate at the time and with the Democratic president, they were able to get through all kinds of legislative reforms

that turned the Carter administration into a real progressive era that people don't really recognize it for today. You had a number of laws that for the very first time reigned in the power of the intelligence community. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is probably the best known. It's a deeply flawed law today, but it was something that didn't exist prior to the Church Committee and the Carter administration. There were no rules on how the CIA, the NSA, or other agencies could conduct national security wiretapping before that. And the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which was a direct outgrowth of church's investigation of multinationals. And then probably the most direct impact was the creation of the Senate and

House Intelligence Committees, the permanent committees. For the very first time, as a result of the Church Committee, Congress imposed permanent oversight of the intelligence community. And those committees are often very weak today and sometimes co-opted by the the intelligence community, but they didn't exist prior to the church community. There was nothing. And so that's what we have to remember is that, while the intelligence community is still very powerful and still often violates the law or violates the rules, those rules do exist. And that's because of Frank Church. So Senator Church lost his reelection bid in 1980 as Idaho became increasingly conservative and morphed into what we know it as today. And he passed away from

cancer in 1984. In the epilogue to the book, you mentioned that a frequent refrain in Washington is we need another church committee. So I'll ask you, do we need another church committee? And is there another frank church? We do need a new church committee, but not the one that the House Republicans are not. Right. Jim Jordan, his weird little weaponization committee. or something, weaponization of the federal government. He's nicknamed it the new church committee, but it's the exact opposite of what the church committee was. Yes, we need better oversight of the intelligence community. And one of the interesting things that's happened to Frank Church's legacy is that he was largely forgotten in the 1980s and 1990s. And it really kind of ironic that

it was 9-11 that brought people back to remembering the church committee. And at first, it was Dick Cheney, who as vice president. He had been Jerry Ford's deputy White House chief of staff, and he hated the church committee, and he tried to fight the church committee at every turn in the Ford administration and had failed. And now as vice president after 9-11, he began to blame the church committee for everything for 9-11 and for the inability of the intelligence community to do what it wanted to fight terrorism. And at first, those attacks worked and led to a reduction in some of the regulations. But as the Bush War on Terror and War in Iraq began to become much less popular and became

deeply unpopular, people began to realize, wait a second, maybe Frank Church and the Church Committee was something good. If Dick Cheney hates it, maybe it was a good thing. The Church Committee became, after a few years after 9-11, it became like a synonym for a major congressional investigation. And so every time now that there's a major scandal in Washington about almost anything, people say, we need a new church committee. And so that church committee has become a phrase widely used in Washington to mean something like a truth and reconciliation committee or commission. And so I think that's the real legacy of Frank Church is that the Church Committee is now passed into the political lexicon as the ultimate congressional investigation. So I think we made some news here because it sounds

like you're on the record as saying that Jim Jordan is no Frank Church. Yes. Yes. I would say that on the record. Okay. James, thank you so much. Again, I can honestly say this book is one of the best things I've read in so long. It's called The Last Honest Man, the CIA, the FBI, the Mafia and the Kennedys, and one senator's fight to save democracy. It's currently a New York Times bestseller, I understand. Congratulations on that. Thank you.

And James, I really appreciate you coming on and spending all this time to talk about it. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it. Folks, I am very happy to welcome on to the new abnormal, Danielle Olivani, who is the CEO and president of Lake County, pride in central Florida. And Danielle, normally, as we head into the month of June, I would be doing this interview and we'd be talking about all of the exciting things that you have going on and it would be in preparation for a celebratory and joyful month, but you live in Florida. And that is the place that

clearly queer joy, black people and everything that is not white supremac centric goes to die. Danielle, talk to me about how you are putting together Lake County Pride and how you are feeling right now in Florida. It's great to be here with you, Danielle. Thank you. Right now, there's a feeling of just impending doom, despair, to be truthfully honest with you. We're moving forward with pride, but this last legislative session with these five anti-LGBQIA bills, along with the myriad of other hate-filled bills, targeting immigrants, voting, et cetera. I mean, it's really taken, it's taken a lot out of all of us, but we're standing strong.

We're moving forward with our pride. This is four years in the making that I've tried to put this on. It's been a huge, huge struggle. It's not exactly being welcomed by the community where we're having it in. In fact, yesterday I just got a cease and desist from them telling me not to mention them at all in any of mine. So they really, really don't want this to take place. But we don't, you know, we're going to persevere. We're going to have this pride because we're fully within our rights to do so.

And we're just going to deal with things as they go. But right now, you know, it's a mixture of, you know, apprehension, fear, yet unhopeful at the same time. Danielle, can you tell us, you know, and the new. abnormal audience because I think that a lot of folks who are not in these red states that are not experiencing firsthand what is happening, what is being legislative on a daily basis. We're only experiencing it largely through the headlines that are shocking and awful and disgusting, frankly. Yes. But at the same time, it's not changing right now our day-to-day lives. And so can you express to people what you are?

up against in Florida as an outwardly queer organization that is about queer liberation and what that kind of work looks like inside of your state? Yes, the work is extremely difficult because there's constant pushback. I mean, it's especially, I want to really put the focus on the rural areas because where I live is a rural area and the LGBTQIA populations in rural areas are very isolated and that adds to the worry and the not being sure of what you can do what you can do. For instance, recently it was just decided that transgender individuals cannot go into the bathroom that they identify with. So they're being forced to go into bathrooms, which creates It's very dangerous and very, you know, harmful, psychologically, emotionally harmful, and

also, you know, could lead to violence. Lake County Pride, our community is a wonderful community. I love our community very much. But it's that small group of loud, frankly, you know, conservative Christian Republicans that want to impose, you know, we don't live in a theocracy. We live in a democracy. So that's what I like to tell people when they say, you know, why are you doing this? It's against, you know, it does it.

Because this area is extremely not only conservative, but Christian, but extremely. So there's no tolerance here. They don't want to accept us. And I've really had to force our way in to it's been a push-pull. And every day it seems like there's something, you know, more that they're adding to the angst that we're all feeling. I deal with youth. Primarily, our organization is youth focused. And they are just suffering so, so much here.

Because, you know, as I said, we're in a rural area. It's isolated. Many of their family and friends, you know, are sheer opposing beliefs. And they feel misunderstood. And as you know, that could lead to a bunch of negative things. It's really despicable what is happening in these red states. to the LGBTQ plus community. I think what is most challenging,

and I'm glad that you lifted it up, is the effects that it's having on queer youth, who we already know is on the higher end of attempts at suicide, on the higher end of homelessness, on the higher end of drug abuse, all because of society's pressures and lack of acceptance and empathy.

And what we've seen, prior to the last couple of years was actually progress that was being made. We, 2015, we had the White House turn into a rainbow after same-sex marriage was passed by the Supreme Court. We have seen, you know, celebrities and shows and media representation and corporations embracing the LGBTQ community. And now, just, you know, earlier, we have Target deciding that they're no longer going to display their problems. their pride apparel because of pressure from extremists right-wing groups. And so it isn't just about your organization being in a rural place. It is everywhere. It's happening everywhere. And I wonder, like, for you, Danielle, what does pride mean? Particularly in this moment and in this time when for you,

it isn't going to be necessarily, you will do your best, I am sure, to make it celebratory, but the undercurrent of fear cannot be denied. And so what does pride mean for you in this moment? Well, pride means to me in this moment to stand up and to speak truth to power, speak truth to power to Governor DeSantis, his administration, that not only the drag ban, which involves our pride, but the don't say gay bill being extended, you know, through age 18, etc. It's completely unconstitutional. We have to stand up to this. We have to stand up to this. say no, we are doing this. We are not going to give in to your fear-mongering, your nonsense. He's created this horrible, I mean, now young people can't even, as we know, so many of them,

you know, just like me, felt rejected at home. At school was a safe haven for us. Now they can't even discuss things in school. Young people need this pride the most because it's going to show them, listen, there's a whole community for you. It's a fact. that if one adult accepts an LGBTIQIA young person, the chances of them attempting or committing suicide decreases dramatically. That's just one adult, Danielle. Imagine if the whole community accepts you. Right. Imagine if the whole, I mean, it's, and here it's, it's for, for whatever reason, it's considered radical what I'm doing, dealing with city officials, dealing with people. I mean, you have to have a community that supports you, be it's your city that it's in, this type of thing.

We don't have that here. So what I want to tell young people, as well as people my age, I'm in my 40s, and also, very importantly, the elders of the community who are experiencing this trauma all over again. They're experiencing it all over again. And to me, that is so cruel. It is the definition of cruel and unusual. And it just, the pride is for them. It's to say we honor you. It's about honoring people, pointing out the fact that inclusion is extremely important.

And also, I think especially this year, our pride is about community build. Because I think everyone is pretty much over this nonsense that DeSantis is doing. I really do. I speak to people every single day, you know, people that completely disagree with me politically, but we come together on one thing. we need to treat people better here. This is inhumane and it's wrong. We need to take it further.

Everyone needs to stand up against this. And I hope in a way our pride allows people to do that as well. You know, pride has always been, for me, I have, I guess, you know, have had the fortune of living in places where pride has been celebrated, where we have, you know, have experienced mayors walking in the pride parades and, you know, experience everyone coming out for days of joy and storefronts being turned into rainbow fronts and that being, you know, a time to really be seen. And I think that what is happening with Ronda Santas and Florida is that he's trying to erase people with fear and making it seem

as if he can legislate in this way and then we'll all disappear, that queer people will just disappear and will be too ashamed or too afraid to show our faces to actually live fully in our bodies. And I want to know what does it look like for you to try and build community also outside of the queer community? Like, are there other organizations and groups in your particular area in central Florida that are showing up as allies, recognizing that what he is legislating is nothing other than hate? Well, I'm so happy that you asked because for a long time, it was kind of just in Lake County, Central Florida, here where we are, Lake County Pride was the only organization, was the only 501C3 dedicated to assisting and aiding the LGBTQIA community.

Now we have free mom hugs, Florida that has a chapter here. Also, there's a quality Florida, which is a huge. I mean, they're fantastic. They'll be attending our pride. We are an intersectional organization. We believe in uplifting all marginalized and underrepresented communities. We stand with them every opportunity that we can. So I realize that if someone is being discriminated against or there's bias being shown, it's all of us that needs to stand up for that and say that this is wrong. And so yes, we have a strong community here in that sense, or it's getting stronger with the outreach and the working together because we have to work together to different. feed this. It's really going to be a task if you, you know, we have to come together. The other question

that I have for you, Danielle, is the NAACP, along with a quality Florida, now I believe HRC and others are issuing travel warnings for your state. Yes. And I want to ask you about your feelings with regard to these, you know, both local equality Florida and national organizations saying to people around the country and many people abroad, that Florida is not safe. That if you are queer, if you are black, if you live at the intersection of marginalized communities, that that state is not safe for you. How does that land for you? Sadly, I think that's correct at the time. And I think we need to put people's best interests ahead of our own. Like, we're here. The people that are existing that still are here, because people are leaving Florida that I know daily, because

of this. Really? Oh, yes. It's sort of like a mass migra. Out. How can you raise your children, you know, under these circumstances or be comfortable, you know, being gay or being by or being trans. It's, it's too much. It's too much, especially because they can't access their health care. People need to maintain that. If they don't, I mean, there's, you know, it's a problem. So I think that, you know, yes, it's a bold thing to say, yes, but I'm ready to stay and fight. And I think that so many others are as well that are still here. We're going to continue to be here. And that's what we need to do to change it. If everyone leaves, you know what I mean? Danielle, there's no one left to do anything. It's a quandary because on one hand, I have had friends who were living in Texas born and raised, you know, multiple generations of Texans and have left because they are a lesbian couple raising. you know, two boys that they adopted and they moved to a blue state because they were afraid. They're afraid of the of the continued trauma, one that their children would be experiencing in school, and then also their safety. And so on one hand, I applauded their ability to pick up and

move, which again, that is about economic status. That is about the ability to be able to afford to make that kind of move. And so on one hand, I applaud people for being able to do. do that. And I'm saying whatever decisions you need to make for your family, you should make for your family and yourself. But then on the other hand, it's like I'm applauding people like you, Danielle, who are staying in this hostile environment that are giving it everything that they have and that are fighting. I'm just so fearful. I will tell you that my heart will be with you all for your pride because I am scared. But at the same time, I'm like, to your point, if everyone leaves, then there's no one left to fight. There's no one left to call out what is wrong. And so I just, you know, last question for you is,

what do you want people listening to this to do in order to aid those like yourself, like your organization, that are staying inside Florida and fighting from the inside out? You know, stand with us, advocate loudly, show up, be proactive. Being an ally is a verb. It is something that you need. need to do all of us, every single demographic, no more, you know, standing on the sidelines. We can't do that anymore. We have to be fully committed to restoring people's civil liberties here in Florida. And, you know, of course, organizations like mine, a small 501C3 grassroots organization, we've lost, you know, thousands of dollars in sponsorships because of Governor just antises crazy legislation and people's fear and stuff like that. So of course, give to organizations,

please. I know that it's very difficult and easy for me to say and money's tight for everyone. I understand, but we really need the help. We really, really do because we want to continue our youth groups, our important things that we have to do to let people know. They are loved. they are supported, they're welcomed. It's not going to happen in school. In many cases, it's not going to happen with their families. It has to happen with a chosen family. And that's what I want to provide. So, you know, help your organization, stand up, speak out and be an active ally. Danielle Olivani, thank you so much for making the time to join the new abnormal. Thank you for the work that you were doing. And I wish you all the luck and the safety for this pride season for

you and all of the folks in central Florida. Thank you so much, Danielle. Andy Levy. Danielle Moody. Andy, how are we starting out this good, good week with your fuck that guy? Well, I figured we'd come back from a holiday with a good one. This happened at the end of last week. You all probably remember Caitlin Bernard.

She is an OBGYN. She's an assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine. and she performed an abortion on the 10-year-old girl who was a rape victim in Ohio, but couldn't get an abortion in Ohio because of the new absolutely evil and insane abortion restrictions there. So she traveled to Indiana. Caitlin Bernard performed the abortion. The medical licensing board in Indiana has now disciplined her. Wow.

They've issued her a reprimand and ordered her to pay $3,000 fine as the Washington Post reports for violating ethical standards and state laws by discussing the case with a reporter. This is absolutely unbelievable. Her lawyers say that this is baseless and politically motivated. And guess what? They're right. She's going to sue? No, just they're right.

I don't know if she can appeal this, actually, because I think this is ultimately up to the state board. And I think it's been ruled that, you know, you can't really go any higher than this. Her attitude is she said, quote, I don't think that anybody would have been looking into this story as any different than any other interview I've given if it was not politicized the way that it was by public figures in our state and in Ohio. And what she's talking about is the fact that Indiana's Attorney General, before Caitlin Bernard came out and said she was the one that did it, said that he was going to open an investigation and try to figure out who did this. So she's right. She didn't start this. She came forward. because this was being politicized. And in fact, back in December, a judge in Indiana said that the attorney general acted unlawfully by making these public comments about investigating her for

potential wrongdoing, saying that that was a violation of his office's confidentiality requirements. It's pretty rich for them to reprimand her and fine her for breaking confidentiality, which, by the way, we should make clear, she never, ever gave the name of the girl. All she did was talk about the age and what she did. The thing is that it became a huge news story because a 10-year-old girl had to go to Indiana to get the abortion. So yes, it became obvious who she was talking about, but she herself did not release the girl's name or anything like that. So what we have here is a bunch of dudes, because it's always a bunch of dudes, deciding that a woman who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old girl who was raped should be fined and given a letter of

reprimand. So my fuck that guy goes to the Indiana medical licensing board and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, who is the one who sought this punishment. You know what I'd like? I would like her to frame that letter knowing that she saved a young girl's life because a 10-year-old body, like I know that these men love to think about little girls, but a 10-year-old body, but a 10-year-old's body, should not be put through the trauma of fucking childbirth, let alone the trauma of rape that preceded it. The idea that you would reprimand somebody for trying to save this little girl's future is extraordinary. And what I would love is if progressives would do the same type of fundraising that the right-wing white supremacists do for their heroes that are murderers, that actually

take the lives of people instead of restoring them and restoring justice. Because $3,000, I'd love to see her be able to raise $300,000 in support of victims of abuse. It is just so sick. These men, these white men are just so sick and twisted and have little regard, little regard for women or girls. It's absolutely abhorrent. And I really hope that she continues to practice. I really hope that she recognizes in herself that like she was right and that if she had the chance to do it again, I hope that she would. Fuck them. Amen. So Danielle, who is your fuck that guy to start off this week? Well, to stay on white men who just continually just fuck around and do wrong things, Rick Scott is my fuck that guy because Rick Scott, you know, we talked about this before Andy about the NAACP

and other groups issuing travel warnings to the state of Florida for black people, for queer people, and recognizing that Florida has become an entirely hostile hate state that is not safe to be in. And I continue to talk with people who are trying to do the good work and battle on the front lines inside of the states. But when I tell you the way that these people and listening to their stories and what they are enduring is just heartbreaking, it isn't just about headlines. but Rick Scott found himself wanting to make a ha-ha and own the libs by issuing his own travel advisory

for quote-unquote socialists visiting Florida. Now, I just want, again, this is the failure of our American civics and our K-12 schooling. What it is that they are instituting in Florida, you know, banning books and shutting down curriculum and taking over colleges and making sure that you only learn one way and think one. way. What does that sound like to you, Andy? It sounds like authoritarianism, fascism. What does it sound like to you? Yeah, it sounds like authoritarianism and fascism. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So this is a formal notice. Florida is, quote, openly hostile towards socialist, communist, and those that enable them. Before traveling to Florida, he writes, please understand that the state of

Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of and the challenges faced by socialists and others who do work with the Biden administration. And then he goes on to say that any attempts to spread the oppression and poverty that socialism always brings will be rebuffed by the people of Florida. Let me tell you something, Rick Scott. Like, I wish that I would meet you face to face. I really do. You are just the embodiment of trash. The very idea that you think, think that openly opposing the president of the United States who actually works on behalf of all people in this country and not just the ones that voted for him like your piece of trash twice in peach found libel for sexual assault new king of the republican party Donald Trump it is just abhorrent

it is despicable and I want people to think to themselves what is the Republican Party actually doing for me how have I gained in any way because unless you are Elon Musk unless you are Holland Crow they haven't done a fucking thing for you. So for that and for so many reasons, Rick Scott, Rhonda Sandens, the whole of the Republican architecture in fucking Florida, fuck you, fuck that guy, can't stand them. Cannot stand them. Yeah, it's just, I mean, what they're doing is they're mocking the NACP.

They're mocking the human rights campaign and equality Florida. We'll see how it plays out, I guess. But boy, that just, I don't know, man. it just seems stupid. I mean, I understand it hits that lowest common denominator of the Republican base, but I hope that shit like this all turns out to be just in addition to being disgusting and gross. I hope it turns out to be really bad tactically. I really hope it does. And I have seen smart conservatives say things like that and talk about how the Republican Party has completely lost its way and they are listening too much to their insane base instead of doing like sort of

what you said and talking to people about making their lives better and doing X and Y and Z. But instead, all they seem to want to do is, you know, talk about the woke mind virus and socialism, this, and communism, that. And again, I've seen smart conservatives say, oh, boy, this is the same shit that blew up the red wave in 2022. And why aren't they learning from this? And I hope they don't learn from it. And I hope it just fails and blows up in their face. Here's hoping.

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