March for our Futures protest pushes back on recent Florida legislation

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – A stream of protesters marched through Downtown Sarasota hoisting signs and chanting “This is what democracy looks like!”

The March for our Futures rally, organized by Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida, is pushing back on a string of recent Florida legislative items dealing with abortion, education and immigration.

Specifically, organizers are taking aim at four bills:

HB 5 — Prevents abortions after a fetus has reached 15 weeks. It does not include exceptions for rape, human trafficking or incest; However, it does allow the procedure if the mother could be killed or seriously injured during the pregnancy.

HB 1557 — Prohibits classroom discussions about sexual orientation or gender identity for students between kindergarten and 3rd grade. It also requires school districts to inform parents if the school makes any changes in how they deal with a student’s mental, emotional or physical health.

HB 7 — Prevents schools or workplaces from teaching curriculum that would make an employee or student believe a person’s moral character is based on their race, color, national origin or sex.

HB 1355 — If passed, would prevent companies from entering contracts with Florida if they transport undocumented immigrants into the state. The bill would also require counties to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help with immigration enforcement.

ABC7 spoke to the lead organizers behind the march as well as a spokesperson with the Sarasota Republican Club to get all of their thoughts on the legislation.

We asked organizers at the protest about the 15-week abortion ban and they told us they’re against abortion restrictions, especially this law because it doesn’t make any exceptions for rape, incest or human trafficking.

Sarah Parker, one of the co-founders of Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida, also noted that she thinks this will hit minority communities especially hard.

“Black and brown women specifically–and people specifically have always been put on the back burner of the reproductive freedom movement and were here to make sure that they’re put in the front and that their voices are loud and clear,” Parker said.

However, Rod Thomson, a spokesperson with the Sarasota Republican Party said he’s glad the bill has been signed into law. He pointed toward research that indicates a fetus is considered a life by the time it reaches 15 weeks since by then it has a heartbeat and brain waves.

“So, the question is is it a human being or not?” he said. “The obvious answer is it is. So, it’s a good bill.”

As for the Parental Rights in Education Bill (HB 1557), Kate Danehy-Samitz, another co-founder of Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida, is disappointed that it’s been signed into law.

It’s her belief that the law discourages diversity and will marginalize LGBTQ students. She and Parker say they’re concerned that teachers in Sarasota won’t be able to openly express support for LGBTQ students because this law will open up the possibility for parents to retaliate.

“People fear things they don’t understand,” Danehy-Samitz said. “An actual leader would take that opportunity to bridge the gap to represent those people who are targeted by a bill like this and to defend them.”

Thomson says otherwise.

He said the text of the bill doesn’t prevent discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity outright, but it will keep those topics out of the classroom curriculum. To him, it makes sense because he thinks there shouldn’t be sexualized curriculum for young students at all.

“Nobody that’s sane and decent should be wanting to have teachers secretly behind parents’ backs talking about transgenderism and same-sex attraction to six-year-olds,” Thomson said.

Rally organizers who oppose HB 7 explained their concerns about this law as well. They say they worry this restriction in schools will have teachers ignore some of the darker chapters in American history regarding race and oppression.

“What we’re doing is we’re burying history for sake of feelings and those feelings are the only thing that’s going to make everything better moving forward,” Danehy-Samitz said.

Thomson, however, insists the bill won’t sanitize history lessons. Instead, he said it ensures that kids won’t feel burdened by their ancestor’s actions.

“So, what you’re not going to be allowed to do is say if you’re a white child you’re the problem, you should feel guilty, your ancestors destroyed things and you need to be quiet and listen to other people of color,” he said.

Lastly, marchers are troubled by HB 1355 because they feel it discourages immigration, a core component of the United States’ inception.

“I believe we should keep those principles that America is open to everyone, specifically children from war-torn countries,” Parker said.

The other side of the aisle insists the bill is only pushing back on undocumented immigration and does not affect people coming in legally.

“But this idea of just opening up the southern border and throwing it wide open has created a human trafficking issue,” Thomson said.

Leaders with Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida say they plan to keep up protests like the March for our Futures. They couldn’t share any details for now, but they say they plan to raise their concerns about these bills in Washington, D.C. as well as in Tallahassee.

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