How the DeSantis anti-LGBTQ+ ad debacle affects the community

PantherNOW Editorial Board

At the end of Pride Month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign team launched a bizarre, embarrassing and stomach-churning anti-LGBTQ ad on Twitter. In the video, he used TikTok “alpha” trends to further his twisted agenda against queer people. 

We, the PantherNOW Editorial Board, find these attempts to salvage his campaign atrocious, shallow and the result of a failing campaign. We’ll call our governor what he is: A laser-beamed loser. 

It doesn’t surprise us that the self-labeled “woke warrior” would attempt to rescue his heartless campaign by continuously reminding us of his contribution to American politics, being the “slayer of all things woke.” This campaign ad is as much an atrocious stand on LGBTQ+ matters as a desperate attempt to court the favors of the most radical of the Internet. 

The ad slaps together excerpts of videos of Trump supporting the LGBTQ+ and contrasts it with the slew of draconian laws against that minority that Governor DeSantis has passed. 

Since then, his presidential campaign committee noticed the outrage and quietly deleted the video from all platforms. Surely he must know that the Internet is forever. We’ll leave it to our readers to judge by themselves: 

His campaign, and himself, have become a joke to the entirety of the United States. While we believe that everyone deserves their free speech, why do they use it to spread danger and harm towards an innocent community?

The ad was also an important contribution to a growing trend in political advertising. This trend sees political aspirants battle to outdo one another in claiming the authorship of the cruelest or most negatively impactful policy. Each side fights to convince the electorate of who can be the most tyrannical in their policies. 

This advertisement and the previous attacks against the queer community have been unjust. Any liberal government bears the responsibility of shielding the vulnerable members of a society against the tyranny of the majority. 

They only desire to live and let live and expect to enjoy the basic rights that their heterosexual counterparts have. They wish to live their sexuality to the fullest without facing any oppressive barriers. And most important of all, they don’t want to be the central factor of a heartless and homophobic political campaign.

These are just important principles. But, when a politician from a major political party builds the bulk of his campaign by unabashedly going after this minority, that principle is undermined. 

Although the governor has so far met no success in branding himself as the champion and surrogate of all homophobes, it becomes clear the kind of America he envisions. The America he has in mind is spiteful of queer people and is led by a party of homophobic zealots. 

We hope the governor continues to communicate his vision with such honesty because we can see how low he’s willing to go in his campaign. It will be interesting to see how the electorate will view DeSantis’ campaign. As of now, the campaign cycle is young and full of surprises.