Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is teaming up with the right-wing group Turning Point USA, and he wants its chapters in every high school across the state. At an event this week, DeSantis announced a new partnership with the organization while renaming a debate award after its slain founder, Charlie Kirk.
DeSantis said, “We want to make sure that all high schools in Florida, anybody in a high school that wants to start a state Club America chapter will be able to do so. There shouldn’t be any impediments to that, and certainly no discrimination. We’re not going to allow that.” The governor’s remarks came at New College of Florida — the liberal arts campus he transformed from an LGBTQ-friendly space into a hub for conservative education, removing books on gender and sexuality from its shelves.
Kirk, killed earlier this year during a Utah campus event, was known for anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. DeSantis said interest in Turning Point USA “skyrocketed after Kirk’s death.” For many LGBTQ Floridians, the move signals yet another front in the state’s ongoing culture wars.
