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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
He warned school districts in Florida not to stand in the way of any student who wanted a charter.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants a Turning Point USA in every high school in his state.
The Republican announced a partnership with the right-wing organization at an event where he renamed a debate prize for slain Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk. But more than naming an award for the anti-LGBTQ personality, the Governor said he wants to remove barriers to any student hoping to open a school chapter for the conservative group in Florida’s public schools. He said any school district that tries to block a charter will face consequences from the state government.
“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,” DeSantis said, according to Florida Politics.
He made the announcement at New College of Florida, a liberal arts school where DeSantis infamously installed a number of academic activists on the board of trustees to shift the college from a progressive and LGBTQ haven into a ground for conservation education initiatives, like tossing books on gender and sexuality from library shelves.
Of note, Kirk and DeSantis were sometimes at odds, despite both being figures in socially conservative politics. Kirk endorsed Trump for President in 2024 and publicly discouraged DeSantis from running in the Republican Primary, which he ultimately lost. But Kirk also supported DeSantis’ first campaign for Congress in 2012 when Turning Point was a new group.
Kirk, before being shot at a Utah College holding one of his debate events, made a number of controversial comments about LGBTQ people, including immediately before his death when he said “too many” mass shooters were transgender. Authorities ultimately arrested Tyler James Robinson, a man who texted a transgender romantic interest that he killed Kirk, on several charges connected to the shooting.
DeSantis, in announcing the Turning Point USA partnership, said interest in starting chapters skyrocketed after Kirk’s death.
"You're starting to see more young people take an interest and be educated, and now they want to get involved," DeSantis said, according to the USA Today Network. "So they've had a huge groundswell of interest ever since that tragic day."
Charlie Kirk DID say stoning gay people was the 'perfect law' — and these other heinous quotes