Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis has found a replacement for the Senate seat vacated by Marco Rubio in Ashley Moody. Moody was previously the state’s Attorney General, and has a record of anti-LGBTQ remarks. DeSantis cited one of her policies in his reasoning, stating, “She sued the Biden administration to prevent brutal transgender surgeries on these minor kids.” Medical experts, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have emphasized that gender-affirming care is evidence-based, medically necessary, and supported by every major medical and mental health association in the United States. She also was part of the lawsuit that successfully fought President Biden’s Title IX protections of transgender students in athletics. In a statement made during the lawsuit she said,
“The idea that young girls can now legally be forced to undress in the same room with males in what is supposed to be a safe space like a locker room, that a young woman could be randomly assigned a roommate that is a biological male with little to no say over the matter, or that biological men would be eligible for women’s scholarships is ludicrous.”
She also launched an investigation of Starbucks, claiming the company’s DEI programs constituted employee discrimination and a “race-based quota system.”
