04/25/22 04/25/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i know that for many of our compatriots chose the extreme right today, their anger and disagreement which led support for this project must also find a response. and it will be my responsibility and that of those around me.

any coverage president emmanuel macron triumphs over far right challenger marine le pen, even as more than a quarter french voters abstained. we will go to paris for a reaction >> thear right that is really progressing. the marg of victy from 2017 was much tighter than last time. the thing to look at, the level of participation, turnout reaching very low level -- lowest level since 1969. amy: then to florida, where republican governor and potential presidential hopeful ron desantis has signed into law a gerrymandered congressional voting map that virtually guarantees republicans four more seats in congress while cutting the number of black democrats elected. >> i'm not going to call what

you're doing a culture war anymore, i'm going to call it what it is, a racist tactic that you are doing. and you know what you're doing. amy: we will speak with democratic florida state senator shevrin jones, a member of the state's legislative black caucus, and florida's first openly gay state senator about the attack on voting rights and how florida's so-called don't say gay law is part of a nationwide push by republicans to score political points by attacking gay and transgender students. we will go from florida to michigan to missouri. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. emmanuel macron has been reelected president of france, defeating his far-right challenger marine le pen. macron won about 58% of the vote in sunday's election. about 41% of voters backed le pen. that's an 8% increase in her

vote count five years ago. nearly 28% of french voters abstained. many french voters say they opposed both candidates. >> i won't be voting in this round, special enough for macron . he only thinks about the rich. and in the second round, not going to vote. i have come to do my shopping and that is more important than voting for macron or le pen. amy: u.s. secretary of state tony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin traveled to kyiv sunday to me with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. they vowed to give ukraine an additional $700 million in military aid. lincoln claimed russia has failed in its principal war aims. defense secretary austin says united states wants to see russia be "weakened." >> we want to see russia

weakened. it has already lost a lot of military capability and a lot of its troops, quite frankly. we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability. amy: during the trip, secretar of state blinken announced plans to gradually reopen the u.s. embassy in ukraine. president biden is expected to soon name bridget brink to be ambassador to ukraine, a position that has been vacant since 2019. brink is currently serving as ambassador to slovakia, a post she began under donald trump. this comes as fighting continued in ukraine over the weekend despite calls for a truce to mark orthodox easter. in the ukrainian port city of odessa, at least eight people died in a reported russian military strike on an apartment building. earlier today, russia bombed five train stations in western ukraine. russia is also continuing to bombard a steel plant in the besieged city of mariupol where

ukrainian fighters and civilians are holed up. on sunday, an orthodox ukrainian priest condemned the ongoing violence. >> they are attacking, unfortunately, as we were finishing our eastern mass. we heard air sirens. they don't even stop on the biggest celebration in the world, the resurrection of christ. amy: in russia, a huge fire erupted earlier today at an oil storage facility in the city of bryansk about 60 miles north of russia's border with ukraine. it is unclear what caused the blaze. last month, two ukrainian helicopter gunships hit a russian oil reservoir near the border, causing another fire. global military spending topped $2 trillion for the first time ever in 2021. this according to a new report by the stockholm international peace research institute.

the united states spent over $800 billion, that's more than the combined spending of the next nine nations, most of whom are u.s. allies. the report also shows the united states spent more than 2.5 times what china spent on its military and more than 10 times what russia spent. the report also noted that nuclear-related spending was among the u.s. military budget items that saw the largest increases in 2021. covid vaccines have saved the lives of 234,000 unvaccinated americans who have died since last june. i've vaccinated americans who died last june. this according to a new study by the kaiser family foundation. the study suggests nearly a quarter of all covid deaths in the united states could have been prevented if more people chose to get vaccinated. in washington, d.c., a gunman

fired more than 100 shots at the private edmund burke school on friday. four people were injured. police said the 23-year-old suspected shooter had a sniper-type setup in a nearby apartment. the gunman later shot himself. in related news, new research shows gun violence has become the leading cause of death for u.s. children and teenagers for the first time, surpassing car accidents. officials in northern arizona have lifted evacuation orders for neighborhoods threatened by the tunnel fire but warn the conflagration remains largely uncontained. the fire has scorched more than 21,000 acres north of flagstaff. it's one of nearly two zen wildfires in arizona, nebraska, and new mexico that have burned 150,000 acres and forced thousands to evacuate their homes in april, well ahead of the normal fire ason. in pakistan, millions of people have faced blackouts of up to 14 hours a day during the holy month of ramadan as a sizzling heat wave brought a surge of demand for electricity.

this comes after india reported it experienced its hottest month of march in more than a century of record-keeping. extreme weather has taken a toll on india's crop yields, with some states reporting a drop in wheat production by as much as %. climate activists around the world marked earth day on friday with a series of protests demanding a rapid end to the burning of fossil fuels. here in new york, police arrested 13 extinction rebellion activists who chained themselves together outsi a "new york times" distribution hub in queens, delaying delivery trucks for several hours friday morning. in london, protesters with extinction rebellion lit flares and staged street theater outside the london office of the asset management firm vanguard, a major investor in coal, oil, and gas. this is protester aiden knox. >> over eight chilean dollars.

subsequently, the largest coal investor in the world. [indiscernible] amy: president biden marked earth day in the pacific northwest, where he signed an executive order protecting old-growth forests on federal lands. a colorado man has died after setting himself on fire on earth day in front of the u.s. supreme court. wynn bruce was a 50-year-old buddhist who lived in boulder, colorado. his friend, the climate scientist and buddhist monk kritee kanko, wrote on twitter -- "this act is not suicide. this is a deeply fearless act of compassion to bring attention to climate crisis." two men with ties to former trump advisor steve bannon have pled guilty and admitted to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors who supported their plan to privately build a wall along the u.s.-mexican border. bannon had also been charged in

the fraud case but was pardoned by president trump last year. a fourth man connected to the group we build the wall is scheduled to go on trial next month. florida's republican governor ron governor desantis has signed a bill to rescind disney world's self-governing status in what is widely seen as retaliation for disney's opposition to florida's so-called "don't say gay" law. desantis signed the bill on friday. >> we believe an important component of freedom is in the state of florida is the freedom from havinoppressive ideologies a post upon you without your consent, whether it be in the classroom or whether it be in the workplace, and we decided to do something about it. amy: we will have more on florida later in the program. in labor news, workers at a starbucks coffee roastery in seattle have voted to join workers united in the latest victory for union organizers at the coffee giant. workers at more than 220 stores nationwide have petitioned for a

union election, and so far 28 locations have voted to unionize. here in new york, about 1500 amazon workers in staten island begin voting today on whether to join the amazon labor union. on april 1, workers at an adjacent warehouse voted to form the first-ever unionized amazon workplace in the united states. progressive lawmakers, including vermont senator bernie sanders, joined a union rally on sunday ahead of today's vote. this is new york democratic-socialist congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez. >> you can give our workers a bathroom break. ain't that right? give them solid health care benefits. don't have a three hour commute to and from work. that they don't have to be sleeping in their cars in order to work for amazon. dignity. it has no place in new york city. you're going to change that.

our workers are going to change that. amy: in nigeria, at least 109 people have died after a massive explosion friday at an illegal oil refinery in southeastern nigeria. it is unclear what sparked the explosion. in other news from nigeria, the u.s. state department has approved the sale of 12 high-tech attack helicopters to nigeria in a deal worth about $1 billion. the deal had been delayed by lawmakers over human rights concerns. in sudan, the united nations has received reports that between 150 and 200 people have died in western darfur after a group of armed fighters attacked the village of kreinik. thousands of people were displaced and home and shops were burned down. one group, the general coordination for refugees and displaced in darfur, put the death toll at 168. the biden administration has threatened the solomon islands it will "respond accordingly" if china develops a military presence in the pacific state. last week, the solomon islands

signed a security deal with china, sparking criticism from the united states, australia, and new zealand. on friday, biden administration sent a delegation to meet the prime minister of the solomon islands. in a statement friday, the white house said -- "if steps are taken to establish a de facto permanent military presence, power-projection capabilities, or a military installation, the delegation noted that the united states would then have significant concerns and respond accordingly." australia's prime minister has also said scott morrison, chinese military base on solomon islands, would be "redline for australia." in mexico city of people took to , hundreds the streets sunday to protest femicides and violence of women following the death of debanhi escobar, an 18-year-old law student who disappeared on april 9. her body was found last week inside a water tank at motel in the northern state of nuevo leon. protesters called for justice

for other women who have disappeared. >> i have had friends who have gone missing, who have been raped, nothing has been done about it. this is the reality. this is something that has been going on for many years. amy: the ruling far-right party in slovenia has suffered a defeat in parliamentary elections sunday as the environmentalist freedom movement placed first, winning about 34% of the ve. in u.s. voting news, a prosecutor in memphis has dropped all charges against pamela moses, a black lives matter activist who had been sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote, not knowing she was ineligible due to a felony conviction. moses had already served 82 days in jail. meanwhile, "the washington post" has revealed donald trump's former chief of staff mark meadows recently broke voting laws by being simultaneously registered to vote in three states -- virginia and the two

-- north and south carolina. meadows was removed from the rolls in north carolina as part of an investigation into whether he committed voter fraud. meadows now works with the conservative partnership institute, which promotes so-called election integrity. and the funeral for patrick lyoya was held on friday in grand rapids, michigan. on april 13, the 26-year-old congolese refugee was shot in the head by a white grand rapids police officer. during the funeral, the reverend al sharpton called on the police department to release the name of the officer who shot him. >> every time we are suspected of something, you put our name out there. how dare you hold the name of a man that killed this man. we want his name!

amy: civil rights attorney ben crump also spoke at patrick lyoya's funeral. >> you must understand that this is not just an legal issue, this is not just a civil rights issue , but truly, this is a human rights issue. because world leaders can't condemn russian soldiers shooting unarmed citizens in the back of the head in the ukraine, but in refused to condemn police officers shooting unarmed black

citizens here in grand rapids, michigan. if it is wrong to do it in the ukraine, then it is wrong that you do it in grand rapids. amy: a clarification to any earlier headlines, a new study by the kaiser family foundation found that 234,000 covid deaths since last june could have been prevented if those unvaccinated people had been immunized. that represents about a quarter of all covid deaths in the united states. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, we go to paris where french president emmanuel macron has defeated far right challenger marine le pen, though she saw significant gains, winning nearly 40% of the vote. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in france, where president emmanuel macron has won a second five-year term, triumphing over far-right challenger marine le pen who conceded defeat sunday. macron is the first french president since 2002 to be reelected. he won some 50% of the vote, while le pen guarded abo 42%. the victory was much more narrow than in 2017 when he beat le pen with over 66% of the vote, pointing to the growing support in recent years for le pen's openly anti-immigrant and islamophobic platform, as well as disappointment over macron's centrist, neoliberal agenda, and his own legacy with harsh anti-immigrant and anti-muslim policies.

in his victory address in, macron vowed to reach out to supporters of le pen. >> after five years of transformation, both happy and difficult and exceptional crisis , on this date, april 24, 2022, majority of us have chosen to trust me to lead our republic for the next five years. i also think of all of our compatriots who abstained from voting. their silence signify the refusal to choose, to which we must also respond. finally, i think of those who voted for madam le pen who i know is disappointed this evening.

no, do not boo anyone. from the beginning, i ask you never to boo. because i am no longer the candidate for the party for the president of everyone. i know that for many of our compatriots who chose the extreme right today, their anger and disagreements which led them to vote for this project must also find a response. and that will be my responsibility and that of those around me. amy: this comes as more than a quarter french voters abstained, with many saying they opposed both candidates. this was le pen's third attempt at the presidency. she said sunday's results were evidence of dissatisfaction with macron.

>> a great breeze of liberty could have arisen in the country . the results of the vote, which i respect, wanted otherwise. despite two weeks of disloyal, brutal, and violent methods, similar to what the french are suffering every day, the ideas that we represent is reaching its peak on the night of the second round of the presidential election. with more than 43% of the votes, tonight's results represents in itself a shining victory. the french are showing tonight a wish for a strong counter power against that of emmanuel macron, for an opposition that will continue to defend and protect them in the face of the degradation of the purchasing power, attacks on liberty, putting into question our public service and our social system, emmanuel macron's opposition to push the retirement age,

insecurity, and an archaic immigration and the laxity of the courts. amy: well, for more on the french election, we're joined by paris-based journalist cole stangler. welcome to democracy now! can you start off by reacting to the reelection of macron, but the increasing number of votes that le pen has gotten over the ars? this, her third defeat. >> if you look at the numbers, percentage points seems like a pretty comfortable margin of victory and people were talking about maybe this election in france looking something like the brexit vote, like the trump vote in 2016. clearly wasn't the case. if you look beneath the surface, the 70% margin is not as comfortable -- 70% margin is not as comfortable. the far right is on the march here in france, terms of the electoral numbers they're

getting in elections if you compare the vote that le pen that yesterday with 2017, macron 's margin was cut in half. progressing electorally. also progressing in a broader battle of ideas. if you tune into media in france , far right ideas are dominating the public debate. talking all the time about immigration, insecurity. the far right is clearly on the advance here and i think that is one of the big takeaways. you have 41% of the french population that voted for somebody who wants to cut off housing, cut off social housing for immigrants, to foreigners. once to have de facto discrimination against foreigners when applying for jobs. once to ban the islamic headscarf and public space. the far right is advancing. that is one important thing to

take into account. the other factor, the low turnout. 72% of the french electorate registered to vote turned up in this election -- high for american standards but in the french context, very low. you have to go back to 1969 defined dissipation level that low -- to find a participation level that low. even beyd the participation numbers, you also have people showing up at the polls, around 9%, who cast what are known as blake ballots, like these is a paper going into the blips, or casting spoiled ballots, so crossingut names, writing someone else's names. 9% of people did spoiled for like ballots. you have a tremendous amount of diatisfactio at the end of the day, macron's

front is holding so this is the idea that people unite to vote but there are clearly signs of weakness. the low turnout speaks to a lack of interest ultimately in this election, a big chunk of the electorate. amy: let me ask you about the sociology professor daniel zamora vargas, whoas argued that president macron is not a centrist. writing in twitter thread that macron was "the most right-wing president of the 5th republic. he created the conditions for the extreme-right to be able to win the presidential election." professor vargas highlighted macron's own support for anti-immigrant, anti-muslim policies saying macron "legitimated all the topics of the extreme-right." adding, french people were forced to "vote for le pen or vote for what created a favorable environment for le pen's ideas. it's a choice between an evil and the cause of that evil." his comments came after the

french presidential election's first round of votes earlier in april. >> here is an expression and french that often was applied to this election whh it is hard to choose between the plague or colorado. you hearit a lot going into the second round, having to choose between these two candidates. if you look at the breakdown of macron's support, around 40% of people who voted for him said they did so to deny the presidency to le pen. that is a big chunk of voters who do not necessarily agree with his agenda. terms of his actual policies, the french context, it is fair to say he is a very right-wing policy program he has put into place. if you look at the repeal of the well tax that used to apply to people with 1.3 billion euros in assets, macron did that in his first budget as president. put into place labor reforms to make it easier to lay off workers. recently, embarked on reforms

for the unemployment insurance which makes it harder to have unemployment benefits. he is now talking about raising the retirement age to 65. all of these economic policies put him in the right wing camp in france. people call him a centrist probably more accurate to say center-right or right-wing it this point. the socioeconomic -- these policies, clearly right-wing. you look at his policies around immigration, around policing issues, clearly someone who has moved to the right. makes it easier to deport undocumented immigrants. his law against islamic separatism that a lot of human rights groups including amnesty international denounced it as going too far. we have seen from the fifth government ministers, not necessarily macron himself, but cabinet members engage in sort of an american-style culture

wars, talking about wokeness, and all of this and -- meant to play to our right-wing audience and really set the debate. clearly, on the right wing. this gets back to why you had such high abstention, such low turnout in france. especially in the working-class immigrant communities that would be the most affected, arguably, by le pen coming to power. if you look at the surbs outside of paris, relatively poor immigrant working-class communities, very low turnout. if you are in the macron camp, i think you should be wondering how you can't get people like this to go out and vote against le pen. it is because many people don't feel motivated and some are frankly struggling to see the difference between macron le pen and. clearly, french people decided to pick macron le pen over but

you have a large swath saying i'm not sure the differences are meaningful. i want to be careful because clearly he did get the support but the sort of line, division that we have seen in the past between the center and the right and the far right is really starting -- i'm not sure how much longer it will be able to hold. amy: what role did this election taking place during russia's invasion of ukraine play? you have "the new york times" writing "unable to get a loan." there was that they must ad macron of macron where he rhymes le pen's name with putin and writing "unable to get a loan from french banks. ms. le pen several top aide's scramble for cash, excepting a 9.4 million euro loan committed $12.2 million at 6% interest rate for the first check russian bank this september 2014,

supposed to be repaid by 2019 and hasn't been? >> absolutely horrle timing for marine le pen. this is someone who has not finished paying back a 9 million euro loan to russian bank in the midst of this authoritarian -- increasingly authoritarian, brutal war. marine le pen has to somehow downplay her ties that i should say, not speculation, there are financial ties linking marine le pen and the far right to the russian regime of vladimir putin. the bank she took a loan from his close to the regime. this is horrible optics for le pen. she had to edit out a national front -- flyer that had her photograph shaking the hand of vladimir putin in 2017. that issue really emerged during

the one debate we saw between the two rounds in which macron understandably went on the offensive about this issue, painting her as someone who is an apologist for putin and actually owed money to putin, not so far-fetched of an argument, frankly. marine le pen and the national rally have looked russia and looked at putin is the sort of model leader, somewhat that is a strong leader -- someone that is a strong leader, defenses country. it should be said this time in 2022, the national rally party went to hungary to get there low this time, to find it's a party because they're struggling to get dressed theyook out a loan from hungary adventure or bond is another sorter point of reference for marine le pen and her party. it wasn't important issue, the election really centered around whether french called purchasing

power, cost of living economic concerns. certainly,he issue came up debate and obviously did not help marine le pen. amy: finally, the role of the far right candidate in the left candidate melenchon who came in third in the previous runoff -- previous, original election? >> i think it is fair to say right now french politics is essentially split into three dots. you have the macron pro-business block, you have far right block that is made up of marine le pen -- more popular and was even more to the right of le pen, populist block. then you have the left populist ock represented by menchon. this is where things can get interesting as we look toward the legislative election. other than regulate whether or not macron might take into

account left-wing voters this time or not, rather than speculate about his words, the language he uses, what counts are the elections in june in which the left for the first time in years seems to be uniting, coalescing around a common program. we will see how that pans out. if thedo that, there's a chance to have 11 parliamentary majority that could potentially block macron from passing a lot of his laws and having a significant impact over his next five-year term. there is the risk also of the right coalescing and getting support as well. very volatile situation that is masked by the margin of victory which seems big but when you scratch left people counted out for years finally seems to be coalescing. amy: cole stangler, tnk you for being with us paris-based

, journalist. next step, we go to florida where republican governor ron desantis has signed into law a gerrymandered congressional voting map after pushing through the state's so-called don't say gay law. we will speak with florida state senator shevrin jones, part of the states legislative black caucus and flett's first openly gay state senator. we will look at the don't say gay law from florida to michigan to missouri. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: that disney movie "muana." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in florida, republican governor possible presidential content certain -- ron desantis has signed into law a gerrymandered congressional voting map that virtually guarantees republicans four more seats in congress

while likely cutting the number of black democrats elected. the measure passed along party lines thursday during a special session called by the governor. but it was delayed when black florida lawmakers staged an impromptu sit-in. >> whose house? >> the people's house. >> whose house? >> the people's house. >> show me what democracy looks like. >> this is what democracy looks like. >> we are the people, the mighty, mighty people. amy: that was florida state representative dianne hart, a democrat from tampa, live streamg video from the floor of the floor to house chamber as she joined the protest. she said desantis' map is meant to disenfranchise black voters. >> we know that what the

governor is doing right now is not fair. he is taking us from four representatives to two. that's not fair. he should allow us, the legislature, to draw map. his job is to either accept or veto them, but he is not doing that. he is saying if you don't vote on my map the way i want my map to be, they guess what? you won't get a map. amy: the governor signed the bill into law on friday. the controversial plan immediately drew a legal challenge. also last week, governor desantis signed into law a measure approved by republican state lawmakers to rescind walt disney world's self-governing status after he and his allies blasted disney for opposing florida's so-called "don'say gay" law. w'll talk more about that in a minute. but right now we go to florida, where we are joined in miami gardens by democratic florida state senator shevrin jones.

he's a member of florida's legislative black caucus, is a bahamian-american, and is also florida's first openly gay state senator. welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. why don't you start off talking about the walk-out the black caucus and why you walked out. >> house democrats, they did exactly what was on the heels -- what was going to happen eventually because inlorida, we have been dealing with for the past four years this constant attack on the black community and margilized communities at lge. the house democrats, they did what was warranted. that was they shut the house down. i will say house democrats and what they have done, they made clearf they're going to make laws like 1960, they would

protest like it is 1960's. republicans cannot continue to disenfranchise the black voters, disenfranchise and take our voices away from us and expect nothing to bring attention to what is happening in florida. if we cannot win inside the chambers, we have to bring attention one way or another. the house democrats, black caucus members felt this was the best way to bring attention nationally to what florida is doing. amy: it so much reminded me of john lewis sitting literally on the floor of the house with other congress members in that national protest that took place , what you welded in florida legislature. and yet governor desantis signed on by date. explain more what this means not only for florida because it sure looks like from this to don't say gay talking about as goes florida, as goes a number of other state in the nation. >> what we're seeing right now

florida pushing our judicial syst. they want to see how far they can take it. republicans in florida no good an well what they did is unconstitutional. since reconstruction, we've only had 11 black congressional members. now we only have five black congressional members. four which actually access seats. with the new map that went into place, we will only have two black access seats. what we're saying right now is if other states are watching, if florida can do this, if florida can go in this direction and can get away, totally going against the people, if they can go along with this, that means other states can do the same. this is whais happening. the governor has very smart people around him. they know what they're doing. push the judicial system to the

limit all of which the supreme court which i believe is not only dangerous for the state, but dangerous for our democracy. amy: i want to go to a clip of you on the floor of the state senate, not sitting on the floor, but when you addressed the governor last week. close i'm not going to call what you're doing a culture where anymore, i'm going to call it what it is, a racist tactic that you are doing. you know you are doing it post of amy: that was at a news conference that you held. how did he respond? >> they did not respond at all. i think a lot of this what we're saying,my, is just a distraction. whether it is disney or crt -- all of these things happening is a distraction. what we cannot allow to happ, we cannot allow the black community to continue toe run over. yesterday we had a call come over three or people from across the ste, called the interval

icp. the republicans have awakened a sleeping giant. right now within the south florida, particularly in miami, the most expensive place to live , a lot of these areas we are eaking about are the black community. the fact we're going to go to tallahassee, waste our time, waste taxpayer money to hold a speciasession to take a special district away from disney all because you would to punish them while ignoring the fact we have bigger issues that we need to do, this is lackluster leadership at its best. ase continue to move forward, what we're seeing right now in florida is not just a culture war. it is racist tactics happening all across this country that republicans see they are in distress and they're going to great lengths to take power away

from marginalized people, to take on marginalized people. why is that? because they see their power slipping away from them. what they're doing is dangerous and can have long-lasting effects on the state and in the country. amy: turning from voting rights to the other issue you addressed in florida that has been spreading to other states, florida passed the controversial law in april known as the "don't say gay" bill. it is classroom instruction on sexual read tatian or gender identity for children in kindergarten through third grade. the move is seen as another effort by republican governor ron desantis to drum up support for his likely 2024 presidential run by marginalizing gay and transgender students, and the children of queer parents. just last week, we saw similar efforts in michigan that led to a state lawmaker's impassioned defense of lgbtq+ youth in a speech that has since gone

viral. michigan state senator mallory mcmorrow made national headlines after she responded to an attack by her republican colleague lana theis, who accused her in a fundraising appeal of "grooming and sexualizing kindergarteners." theis also accused morrow of seeking to teach that "eight-year-olds are responsible for slavery." this is senator mcmorrow's full response from the michigan senate floor tuesday. >> thank you, mr. president. i did not expect to wake up yesterday to the news the senator from the 22nd district had overnight, accused me in grooming and sexualizing children in an email fundraising for herself. i sat on it for a while wondering, why me?

then i realized, because i am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme because you cannot claim your targeting marginalized kids under the name of "parental rights" if another parent is standing up to say no. so then what? the new to human eyes and marginalized me. you say i'm one of them. you say she is a groomer, supports pedophilia, which children to believe they were responsible for slavery and to feel bad about themselves because they are white. here's a little bit of background about who i really am most of growing up, my family was active in our church. i sang in the choir. when they are priest called a meeting with my mom and told her she was not living up to the church's expectations and she was disappointing. my mom asked why. among other reasons, she was divorced and because the priest did not see her at mass every sunday. where was my mom? she was at the soup kitchen with

me. my mom taught me at a young age christianity and faith was about being part of a community, that recognizing our privilege and blessings and do what we can to be of service to others, especially people who are marginalized, targeted, and who had less, often unfairly. i learned this service was far more important and performative nonsense like being seen in the same pew every sunday or writing "christian" in yr twitter bio using that as a target. i also stand on the shoulders of people like father ted hesburgh, the longtime president of the university of notre dame, who is active in the civil rights movement, who recognized his power and privilege as a white man, a faith leader, and the head of an influential and well respected institution and whose all people in this country being targeted -- black people in this country being targeted and beaten and reached out to lock arms with dr. martin luther king junior when he was alive, would

he was unpopul and risky, and marching alongside them to say we have got you. to offer protection and service an ally ship to try to right the wrongs and fix injustice in the world. o am i? i am a straight white christian married suburban mom who knows that the very notion that learning about slary or redlining or systemic racism somew means children are being taught to feel bad or hate themselves because they are white is absolute nonsense. no child alive today is responsible for slavery. no one in this room is responsible for slavery. but each and every single one of us bears responsibility for writing the next chapter of history. each and every single one of us decides what happens next and how we respond to history and the world around us. we are not responsible for the past. we also cannot change the past. we cannot pretend it did not

happen or deny people the very right to exist. i am a straight white christian married suburban mom. i want my daughter to know she is loved, supported, and seen for whoever she becomes. i want her to be curious and kind. people who are different are not the reason that our roads are in bad shape after decades of disinvestment or that health care costs are too high or that teachers are leaving the profession. i want every child in this state to feel seed, heard, supported, not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white, and christian. we cannot let hateful people tell you otherwise to spegoat and deflect from the fact they are not doing anything to fix the real issues that impact people's lives. and i know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen.

so i want to be very clear right now, call me whatever you want, i hope you brought in a few dollars, i hope it may use the good last night. i know who i am. i know it faith and service means and what it calls for in this moment. we will not let hate win. amy: that was michigan state senator mallory mcmorrow in speech and at state senate in michigan, now viral. she gave that speech on tuesday after being accused by a fellow state legislator of "grooming kindergartners" for her views. meanwhile, in missouri, this -- the state has approved a bill that will allow school districts to vote on whether to ban trans student athletes from youth sports. the republican lawmaker who proposed the amendment, state representative chuck basye, said it was to "save women's sports." gay missouri lawmaker ian mackey

confronted bayse in floor speech that also went viral, comparing the anti-trans bill to his own experience as a queer student growing up. >> i was afraid of people like you growing up and i grip and he recanted, missouri, a school district that would vote tomorrow to put this in place. and for 18 years, i walked around with nice people like you who took me to ball games, who told me how smart i was, and went to the ballot and voted for krapp like this. i could not wait to get out. i couldn't wait to move to a part of our state that would reject this stuff in a minu. i cannot wait and thank god, and it, thank god i think every day of the kids who are still there who have not made it out, who

have not escaped from this kind of bigotry. gentlemen, i'm not afraid of you anymore. because you are going to lose. you may win this today, but you are going to lose. amy: that is gay missouri lawmaker ian mackey. before that, it was florida's don't say gay" bill that prompted our guest today, florida state senator shervin jones, the state's first gay senator, to speak out against the measure on the floor in tallahassee last month. >> just imagine living a life of 30 years and you come to your parents and you're talking about who you are and you are lying to them about who you were. i never wanted to disappoint my dad. i even told him to watch this today.

i don't think you understand that we running for office, it was difficult because people calling you names, people saying things to you and all you want to do is serve. i never knew living my truth would cause church members to leave my dad's church. or friends to stop talking to me. our families to make jokes about who you are. in my heart, i don't believe any of you, need if whom i've known for years -- many of you whom i've known for years, i believe that we all want to do right.

it seems as if politics has -- we have gone down a road to where we are scared to just step out to make sure we are not hurting people. amy: that is our guest today, florida state senator shevrin jones, florida's first openly gay state senator. last, republican governor desantis signed into law a measure approved by republican state lawmakers to rescind disney world self governing status after he and his allies blasted disney for opposing the so-called don't say gay law. as we continue with state senator shevrin jones. if you can first elaborate -- i mean, the power of your speech, your personal speaking from the heart of what it meant for you to grow up with -- in your

father's household and what it meant to them be voting with the legislators that challenge your identity? >> amyi wanted to purvey a message to my colleagues that i wasn't i pathetic will because that is what they were speaking on in th chambers, was hypothetically speaking, pothetically speaking. i wanted to make it clear, i am a member of his body. i sit in these chambers with you and i wanted to be clear to them that i have a story behind this and this person that you see right now. i wanted to share that. i was raised in a very coervative household. my d is the pastor of a large congregation and my mother is a principal at a school. there was this tone that these children who are gay which the

bill sponsor says they had come from broken households or send that teachers are socially engineering children. i was not socially engineered. i s loved inside my household. i want them tknow i was neither of what they were trying to convey. i wanted to convey not just to them, but the young people who were outside. amy, could hear them outside chanting and crying and chanting and crying. i don't know what would you like to get 13, 1 15-year-old standing outside. i don't know if i would've had the courage at the time to and up to blies o are doing this type of thing, generation of young people where young people are 2000 more time -- four times more likely to commisuicide not because of who they are but because of how they are treated. we must continue to do that all

across the country. amy: then the issue of reving disney's special district status. now, this is complicated. a longtime bernie sanders eight tweeted, "end disney's corporate welfare because it ceo got a 420 $3 million compensation package, manufactures toys with sweatshop labor, replaced west tech labor with cheaper labor from abroad, still does not pay middle-class wages not because it won't discriminateagainst gay kids." this is interesting because you have a progressive analysis that they should not have a special district and then you have republican governor desantis saying, why should this corporation have free speech rights, which many progressives raise -- it is not a corporation that should have free speech rights, it is people. your thoughts on this, shevrin jones? >> we have to be clear about something that republicans have gave disney $163 million tax

break, but the same breath, y take the special district away from them. you can tell themhis is republicans being petty at its best because it is clear this has been in place for over 50 years. universal studios has two special dtricts. today, after universal? they did not. they came right after disney because the corporation does not agree with what the governor and republicans have done. it is fair to say right now disney and universal studios is the largest employers of floridians within the state from employing over 80,000 people. 80,000 people. what we're not talking about, what i will say, what is happening will be taxed on the back of floridians over $2 billion. amy: democratic florida state senator shevrin jones thank you for being with us stop florida's

first openly gay state senator. that does it for our democracy hour. now! has an immediate opening for a news writer producer. visit democracynow.org/jobs to find out more and apply. democracy now! [captioning made possible by democracy now!] ÷÷ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■ñ■

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