My brother and his family live in Florida.

[OldBaldy1701E]

Their lives are rooted there. I am in a very wonderful relationship with a man that I met 24 years ago and married 19 years ago. I am from a very small town in North Carolina. As a gay male, it was far from easy growing up there. But, I 'escaped' I suppose. Now, I will be going back to my favorite part of North Carolina (The Outer Banks) and I have invited my brother and his family to visit us there. I was thinking about this earlier today. This may be the last time I ever see my nephew or his parents in person. The state they live in has become literally too dangerous for myself and my husband to set foot in. My brother and his family cannot move and I suspect that his wife would not want to. (It is proximity to her family that is the reason. She does not want to get too far away I guess.) I think it finally hit me earlier today that if they do come, it may well be that I won't see my nephew again except for images and short videos. He is three. It is possible that he may never know me except for the same things mentioned before. But the fact that I, as an American citizen, have to stay out of other parts of this same country because I might be injured or killed, is beyond insane to me. But, my husband and I agree that it is dangerous to go to Florida. So, unless they come up to N.C. for our visit, I won't see him again because of a psycho fascist who thinks he is the next savior.

How fucked up is that?

[eppur_se_muova]

1. It's not just DeFascist -- it's that FL voters would vote for someone like him.

Jailing TFG will not cure the country, either, as long as there are still voters who would vote for him or one of his imitators.

[OldBaldy1701E]

3. I know right? (n/t)

[AllaN01Bear]

2. very.

on edit, i had a friend who lived in florida as a little girl, she hated it then too also." they were rude to the blacks". land of the free m riiiiggght.

[OldBaldy1701E]

4. I am a fan of the Keys and the Panhandle.

I visited the Keys a few times and I toured through the Panhandle when I was doing a children's musical theater touring troupe. They live near Orlando. I have been there many times. All of it has become dangerous to someone like us. Who would have guessed?

[calimary]

5. I'm sorry you have to deal with this.

[OldBaldy1701E]

24. Thanks. I am sorry too. But they want this and we have to show the world that they want this. (n/t)

[ALBliberal]

6. So f'cked up! Completely agree.

[OldBaldy1701E]

23. It sure is.

BTW, I am assuming that the ALB is Birmingham? How is Vulcan these days? (I have an acquaintance who is the head of a private school there. I hope he is doing okay, as he is a rather liberal person despite working in a catholic school.)

[ALBliberal]

30. Albuquerque should probably change to ABQLiberal!!

[ShazzieB]

7. Incredibly, nauseatingly fucked up! 🤢

[OldBaldy1701E]

22. And those who support that maniac love it. (n/t)

[carpetbagger]

8. I would go.

That's my personal judgment, but I moved out of Florida in 2020, and have a trans son who lives near Ocala (and is planning to leave the state next year). I also still have connections to a church in Gainesville that probably has 150-200 gay members.

There are two issues, stochastic nonstate violence and state violence. Rogue violence against gay men is still rare, probably not any worse than Eastern NC. State violence is a bully type thing, they go after the people they can control, state employees, students, etc. Much more directed at trans than cis, and at least presently more performative than not.

I don't particularly want to spend more time there than necessary, and I cut my usual two week trip to one and am only going to see my mom and son et al.

I am torn about what precautions to take. My son increasingly avoids the Panhandle, travel along some of the center rural roads (17, 27, 301), and doesn't make stops in small stores or businesses. But his situation is more complicated due to bathroom and other trans and physical appearance (e.g. 5'6&quot issues.

[OldBaldy1701E]

21. That is true about 'rogue violence' but that is not the insidiousness of their position.

They don't have to be violent. They can just ridicule and insult and deny services. No one is going to do anything about it. Lawsuits are the only option these days. Which is hysterical to myself as only about 5% of the population can even attempt a civil lawsuit with any hope of winning. So, there are no options left but to either live as a resistance fighter or get the hell way from those insane bigots. The problem we face is that it is getting more and more difficult to 'get away' from them. Which leaves the one option that everyone seems to want to avoid, but is becoming unavoidable in my opinion.

[carpetbagger]

31. There's always the call to corporate HQ

While you'd probably get customer service happy talk and nothing more, I'm sure a report and review would happen and would be mildly painful to the regional and store management and more unpleasant for the Florida Man who decided to go Desantis on the customer.

You're right, though, wouldn't want to live there.at.this point. I will still visit my mother, but that's the only reason I plan to go to Florida. I'll also probably move out of Texas in a few years when I retire unless a have a partner who wants to stay here. Abd next renewal cycle ok moving my professional license from West Virginia (I work for the feds so it doesn't matter where I'm licensed.

Good luck.

[moniss]

9. It is awful that our society

won't acknowledge the fact that we are all just people and it goes from A to Z. When you talk about it being too dangerous to go to certain parts of the country I am reminded of my youth and what could and did happen to long-haired kids from the North traveling through southern states. Many areas in the North too.

[OldBaldy1701E]

20. Yep.

However, acknowledging that we are all just people is not profitable so that reality will never be accepted by some. All of the industries that rely on our being convinced that we need this or that to be just like the rich or that it will make us model thin or whatever all plays into that desire to keep us at each others throats so that they can milk us all and then turn around and pay their political cronies to make sure no new laws will interfere with that profit. DeSantis knows this. He revels in the fact that his ego is bigger than his white boots.

[moniss]

26. Right you are

and many years ago I had a college professor who was emphatic that Madison Avenue was the source of much of our problems as a society. So many people today never lived through or don't remember how we fought against commercialism in the '50's and '60's.

[NJCher]

10. deSantis won't be there forever

Florida does have term limits, right?

even if he’s gone, however, it still won’t change the voters there who like what he does.

DeSantis’s changes to Florida affect all of us, but we might not realize it. It hit home to me tonight when I had to write a girlfriend of mine who lives near Treasure Island.

Her son is a police officer in another town. We all know how DeSantis has paid finders fees to get violent New York City cops who have been let go. I was concerned that my friend‘s son might encounter one of these officers that were thrown out of the force here; consequently, I wrote her and sent the article that was posted at DU.

I shudder to think of what could happen if my friend’s. son was paired with or on duty with one of these nyc officers. Imagine a George Floyd type incident, where my friends son would be present and could get drawn into lawsuits that last for years.

[OldBaldy1701E]

19. I hear you on that.

As a 'good cop', he is in what is becoming a small minority in that community. Factor in the fascist appeal of Florida and you get those power hungry types who think they are better than everyone else because they wear a badge. Your friend's son is in danger, to be honest. I hope he manages to hang on.

[BComplex]

11. Sorry to hear that, OldBaldy1701E. I live in North Carolina, and I'm here to tell you, it's

getting pretty bad here, too. In case you haven't heard, the republicans OWN both houses of NC legislature, veto proof majorities in each, and they're doing bizarro shit here too. The Koch brothers bought the state during the Tea Party crap, and it's just been getting worse over the past 10 years.

As a democrat, I totally welcome you back here!! But the republicans here are feeling empowered and they have guns. Please be careful!

[OldBaldy1701E]

15. Oh, I know.

When I remember how blue Raleigh used to be, when I remember all the times we had there without worrying about the fact that there are stupid evil people out there, I have to weep a bit because even a city with 30 higher educational choices cannot stop ignorance and maliciousness from permeating our lives. I know it is going to get worse. I miss N.C. horribly, and I will be visiting it when I can, but to think that I have to live as if I were in a combat zone just to visit my mother or brothers. (I have a few. Just the one lives in FL.)

[BComplex]

29. ....

Come on home, my friend.

[BlueKota]

12. I am sorry for what you are going through.

The Republicans are a disgusting cult. They claim to be pro family but are separating them with these draconian policies, and their unjustifiable hatred.

Wishing you and your husband the best.

[OldBaldy1701E]

16. Thanks. Their claims are to trick the population.

Hell, anything that comes out of the mouth of a professed rethug is automatically treated as a complete falsehood by myself. They just talk to get people to listen to their lies in the hope that they will buy into it without question. The fact that some 70 million of Americans do is one of the most frightening things I can think of.

[highplainsdem]

13. It's very fucked up. I'm so sorry this is happening.

[OldBaldy1701E]

18. Thanks. I am sorry as well.

I feel for everyone there who is not part and parcel to this insanity. Those who are allowing it and in fact encouraging it? What I feel for them is the opposite.

[Irish_Dem]

14. Yes. The GOP is waging a very damaging war.

US Civil War II, pitting Americans against each other.

The US is becoming a dangerous place.

[OldBaldy1701E]

17. And, it is working.

The fact that it is working is the scary thing to me. It is obvious what they are doing. So, either their followers believe it, or they are just evil assholes who like inflicting pain and misery because they find it funny. Either way, people like that need to just go live in their little fiefdom and quit trying to turn the entire country into a hellhole so that they have something new to laugh about.

[Irish_Dem]

25. Greatest moral decline and lack of civic duty in US history.

An American tragedy in the making.

[lark]

27. When I was younger, I traveled throughout the country & the south with 3 other people.

I was with a guy who had hair down to his waist and a long beard, another guy with shoulder length hair and a Chinese woman. I had long Janis Joplin hair with huge octogonal pink glasses - so we basically looked like hippies. As a teenager I traveler around in TX with my cousins. The only place where I actually feared for my life was in TX. Our car would have been stolen except my German Shepherd was there. There were scratch marks on the outside from them trying to jimmy the door and sratches on the inside from Rota protecting the van. Two other times we were hasseled in that state, they even wouldn't let Linda use the telephone because she wasn't white. LA, the cops tried to shake us down (2 times) and MS got hasseled at another restaurant. I never had any issues in public places in FL. even when I was a young hippie.

I also developed rules for traveling in the south. Don't stop in small towns - ever - too risky - even to get gas. Fill up at places off the freeway, not in some podunk town, unless it's a college town. College towns and big cities are safer in general.

I'm now old and white, so not a target anymore, but my LGBTQ son still follows this and has not been hasseled here either.

[Chainfire]

28. The problems in Florida were planned and carried out by the Republican Party.

The rise in hate crimes mirrors the rise of Republican state leadership. Republicans have given the fence-sitters license to allow their ignorance and fear to grow and prosper. Where ten years ago, bigots would keep their heads down, for the most part, they are now celebrated for exercising their right to publicly display their hate. Florida has become the shining example for Fascist all over the country. I have become deeply ashamed of my state and my fellow citizens.

[OldBaldy1701E]

32. Being from North Carolina, I can relate! (n/t)