Democrats in the Republican-majority Florida State House of Representatives have their work cut out for them. One of them, Rep. Anna Eskamani, came on The New Abnormal podcast to give us a glimpse into what thatâs like.
To start, Eskamani tells TNA co-host Andy Levy that the horrible bills we see passed in the Sunshine State, like the most recent anti-trans bathroom ban that prohibits people from using bathrooms that match up with their gender identity, were actually a whole lot worse pre-passing.
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âItâs very challenging and it is dystopian to some degree because of the challenges you face as a legislature and a body like Floridaâs House and Senate. Youâre the superminority, so your options are limited in what youâre able to get done. I always break it down into three factors of delay, amend, destroy,â she explains. âThis bathroom ban alongside the gender-affirming care ban and even the attack on higher education, academic freedom, those were all bills that we [the Democrats] were able to water down. Theyâre still incredibly harmful, but they were going to be worse.â
All this bathroom talk had Andy curious: âThereâs another bill that punishes businesses that admit minors to drag shows, another that prohibits public school employees from using studentsâ preferred pronouns if they donât match their gender at birth. Is it fair to say your Republican colleagues have an obsession?â
âYes, especially with peopleâs genitalia,â she says.
Speaking of colleagues, in this segment Eskamani also shares her response when she heard her colleague, Rep. Webster Barnaby, call trans people mutants and demons, and some of the âdisgustingâ comments sheâs heard from other Florida state Republicans who she has to work alongside.
Plus! Andy and co-host Danielle Moodie discuss Clarence Thomasâ ongoing grift and whether or not the general public should be exposed to graphic photography depicting carnage from mass shootings.
Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
