Florida might be at the top of the risk list for anyone other than white, heterosexual, cis-identifying folk—but there are a number of other states continually vying to one-up each other to get to the top.
On this week’s episode of The New Abnormal, independent journalist Erin Reed joins the program to share her thoughts on the anti-LGBTQ+ craze sweeping red states—and weigh in on which of them are the worst for both residents and visitors.
“Florida ranks very high for me,” said Reed, who publishes the Substack newsletter, Erin in the Morning where, among other things, she tracks anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world.
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But it goes deeper than Florida—with states like Tennessee, Missouri, Montana, and Texas all vying to outdo each other after one “does something really harsh.”
“It’s going to be a hard next few years, but I do think that it gets better,” Reed said. “I don’t think that Republicans are going to stop doing what they’re doing and I think that as long as they control some state legislatures, the states are going to do terrible things.” Despite this, Reed urges supporters not to give up: “I'm seeing, culturally, a movement of people that are willing to stand up for trans people in their communities.”
Then, Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood, the crusading Florida sheriff taking on neo-Nazis, talks about the moment that was his breaking point for bigotry and hate.
“I think you have to go back to Charlottesville. When you had the incident in Charlottesville and the president of the United States (Donald Trump) says there’s good people on both sides. That was a wink and a nod to extremism that it’s acceptable. And it's never acceptable.
“It’s destroying the social fabric of our country by letting these fringe extremes slowly eat away at the center of the country.”
Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
