Mayor Donna Deegan (center) at River City Pride (Photo: Facebook)
A Florida state Rep. has thrown a hissy fit after the mayor of Jacksonville attended the River City Pride Parade. He’s now told a local news outlet he would like to see legislation banning elected officials from attending Pride marches.
Mayor Donna Deegan (a Democrat) took on a Grand Marshall role at the city’s Pride parade. The event happened on Sunday (October 8).
Deegan re-shared some photos of herself riding around in an open-top car at the parade, and said, “Happy Pride y’all”.
State Rep. Dean Black, who is also the Duval GOP Chairman, was disgusted. He said condoms were thrown out during the family-friendly event. He blasted Deegan over her participation.
“We are disturbed and disgusted to see the Mayor’s participation as the Grand Marshal at an alleged ‘family-friendly’ event where sex toys were displayed and condoms were handed out to children,” Black said Monday, according to Florida Politics.
“At best, it is beneath the dignity of the office of Mayor to attend events that seek to push sex on our children. At worst, it is morally repugnant for *any* person, let alone the Mayor, to be endorsing or supporting such behavior.”
“We call on our elected representatives to take further steps to prevent this from happening again. It should not take legislation to enforce this commonsense principle: stop sexualizing our children.”
“Further, we call on Mayor Deegan to condemn and disavow this conduct, as well as give assurances that she will not continue to use her office to embarrass our city and disrespect parents.”
“She did not see any of the items alleged”
A spokesperson for Mayor Deegan issued the following statement in response.
“Mayor Deegan attended the River City Pride Parade to show her support for our LGBTQ+ community and commitment to diversity and inclusion. During her participation, she did not see any of the items that were alleged to have been present. What she did witness is people and families coming together to celebrate the beautiful mosaic that is Jacksonville.”
River City Pride issued a statement thanking Deegan for her involvement.
“It was our most incredible honor to have you, Mayor Deegan be our 2023 Grand Marshal. Your love and compassion for all citizens of Jacksonville, no matter who they are or who they love is the greatest love a mayor can give and we as an LGBTQ+ community feel your love! ❤️ Thank you for being a strong ally!”
The Duval County Republican Party appeared unsatisfied with the Mayor’s official response.
“Mayor Deegan’s claim that she ‘did not see’ it is a sad attempt to excuse the blatant perversion of this event, and her refusal to denounce it in the face of proof is a stain on the Mayor’s Office,” it said on X.
Given that Republicans have a large majority in the Florida House, and they’ve passed some pretty vile anti-LGBTQ legislation in the last couple of years, we wouldn’t rule out a lawmaker attempting to pass such a law. That said, forbidding any adults from attending specific public events would mark a new low, even for Florida Republicans.
Normal healthy adults do not get angry that they can’t talk to 5-9 years old about sex. If you have sexual conversations with kids and hide those conversations from their parents, you are a groomer. This isn’t difficult. As reported in this case, I would hope that adult LGBTers would have more sense than handing out condoms to children.
That being said, the GOP representative has no legal authority to propose such legislation as it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Wow, my reading comprehension is really slipping in my old age. I’ve read the article twice and still haven’t seen the part where they were handing out condoms to children or where anyone was angry b/c they couldn’t talk to 5-9 y/o’s about sex. I’m a conservative Repub and still can’t manage to twist that info out of this article. Baron, untruthful spin is still a lie and once a liar, always a liar.
This fool who considers himself royalty is not gay. He’s a conservative troll and a sock puppet for the other conservative trolls who have become even more ineffective.
@Baron sigh you need to reread this because you’re getting old. There are no proof that they handed out condoms to kids or spoke to kids about sex. If you think that low of LGBTQ ppl at Pride then you have never been to Pride or met a queer person. Queer adults know how to act civilly around children. And Pride is for everyone but so yeah there are going to be things aimed for adults. So it’s up to parents to decide if their children should go or not. If you want a sex free Pride then go to Universal or Disney. Lastly why all the hubbub about sex toys and condoms? There are gun & weapon shows that kids can go to. Kids are in arm distance to hold a taser, knife, and able to do target practice. Why is there no anger over that? It promotes casual violence and glamorizes weapons.
Baron, I don’t consider reporting by “Florida Politics” to be reliable and therefore ignored their false claim. BTW, does it push your buttons that publicly funded Health Departments hand out condoms to “children” everyday at taxpayer expense? Children includes anyone less than 18 y/o and to my knowledge there is no minimum age requirement for any child to ask and receive no cost condoms at a health department. I guess for uptight guys like you, the mention of a condom is unnerving. Just wait till you discover there are actually organizations that hand out no cost TAMPONS and PADS to women in need. OMFG!! I mentioned CONDOMS and TAMPONS in the same post. I’m sure to be banned. Glad I didn’t mention those sex toys you need to relieve your uptight stress.
It’s disheartening to see the shameless reemergence (from under a rock?) of people who wish to deny away the existence of the Queer community. We need more marchers in every neighborhood chanting “We’re queer, we’re here, get used to it!” Back to the 80s?
And the State Rep. what’s-his-name should have enough knowledge of the U.S. Constitution to know that any such law would be unenforcable, because it would be unconstitutional.
Even if it wasn’t a form of speech, I can’t imagine the ban could be limited to only LGBT events. This would mean that ALL parades, marches, etc. would be off limits to politicians which won’t ever pass. Politicians will never vote to do away with all this free self publicity at these events.
Oh, they are doing that too. That’s another line that needs to be defined sooner than later. Are we going to allow parents to raise their children as they see fit, or are we going to step in and create some required parameters of behaviors to be taught to our children?
Baron, my point exactly. We have CPS, but they are allowed to run roughshod using their own interpretation of the rules which creates a hodge podge of some families getting harassed while other families doing the same thing don’t get bothered. We need to bring this to the top and force a clear directive that will expose the inequities that are currently in the system. Let an affluent white families 4 y/o fall down the steps and it’s just a “childhood accident”, let a minority or gay families 4 y/o do the same thing and it can easily turn into a 48 hr removal of the child with an investigation into what were mommy and daddy or mommy and mommy doing at the time.
And meanwhile, what do we do while we wait for this matter to reach the Supreme Court 3 years from now? I agree it is likely unconstitutional, but the current action is creating another roadblock today. Every voice or public appearance that is stopped today that just might be delivering the message of hope to a suicidal teen is worthless years from now when that kid is gone.
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RIGay
But please, let’s not talk about Beetlejuice.
jcool
nobody is sexualizing children. nobody is even thinking about it, except a few pervert republicans.
Baron Wiseman
Normal healthy adults do not get angry that they can’t talk to 5-9 years old about sex. If you have sexual conversations with kids and hide those conversations from their parents, you are a groomer. This isn’t difficult. As reported in this case, I would hope that adult LGBTers would have more sense than handing out condoms to children.
That being said, the GOP representative has no legal authority to propose such legislation as it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
PinkoOfTheGange
@ Baron
Stop projecting and go find a bridge to hangout under.
ZzBomb
@Baron
Literally NO BODY, aside from right wing politicians and priests, are sexualizing kids and throwing condoms to a crowd isn’t sexualizing anything.
Openminded
Wow, my reading comprehension is really slipping in my old age. I’ve read the article twice and still haven’t seen the part where they were handing out condoms to children or where anyone was angry b/c they couldn’t talk to 5-9 y/o’s about sex. I’m a conservative Repub and still can’t manage to twist that info out of this article. Baron, untruthful spin is still a lie and once a liar, always a liar.
Baron Wiseman
@Openminded
Yes, you are correct, your “reading comprehension is slipping.”
“…at an alleged ‘family-friendly’ event where sex toys were displayed and condoms were handed out to children.”
Try again, as they say, third times a charm.
Apology accepted.
dbmcvey
This fool who considers himself royalty is not gay. He’s a conservative troll and a sock puppet for the other conservative trolls who have become even more ineffective.
dmarcus
@Baron sigh you need to reread this because you’re getting old. There are no proof that they handed out condoms to kids or spoke to kids about sex. If you think that low of LGBTQ ppl at Pride then you have never been to Pride or met a queer person. Queer adults know how to act civilly around children. And Pride is for everyone but so yeah there are going to be things aimed for adults. So it’s up to parents to decide if their children should go or not. If you want a sex free Pride then go to Universal or Disney. Lastly why all the hubbub about sex toys and condoms? There are gun & weapon shows that kids can go to. Kids are in arm distance to hold a taser, knife, and able to do target practice. Why is there no anger over that? It promotes casual violence and glamorizes weapons.
Openminded
Baron, I don’t consider reporting by “Florida Politics” to be reliable and therefore ignored their false claim. BTW, does it push your buttons that publicly funded Health Departments hand out condoms to “children” everyday at taxpayer expense? Children includes anyone less than 18 y/o and to my knowledge there is no minimum age requirement for any child to ask and receive no cost condoms at a health department. I guess for uptight guys like you, the mention of a condom is unnerving. Just wait till you discover there are actually organizations that hand out no cost TAMPONS and PADS to women in need. OMFG!! I mentioned CONDOMS and TAMPONS in the same post. I’m sure to be banned. Glad I didn’t mention those sex toys you need to relieve your uptight stress.
Matthewnow
KaKaKunt!!!
ZzBomb
The mayor was practicing her 1st Amendment rights.
Fahd
It’s disheartening to see the shameless reemergence (from under a rock?) of people who wish to deny away the existence of the Queer community. We need more marchers in every neighborhood chanting “We’re queer, we’re here, get used to it!” Back to the 80s?
And the State Rep. what’s-his-name should have enough knowledge of the U.S. Constitution to know that any such law would be unenforcable, because it would be unconstitutional.
wikidBSTN
LOL – attending a parade is a form of speech. The government cannot ban any adult’s attendance.
Openminded
Even if it wasn’t a form of speech, I can’t imagine the ban could be limited to only LGBT events. This would mean that ALL parades, marches, etc. would be off limits to politicians which won’t ever pass. Politicians will never vote to do away with all this free self publicity at these events.
James
ANOTHER NAZI TRASH REPUBLICAN LOSER IN FLORIDA.
Low Country Boy
If members of the GOP have such a hard time, why are they getting their panties in a twist and not blame the parents taking them there?
Openminded
Oh, they are doing that too. That’s another line that needs to be defined sooner than later. Are we going to allow parents to raise their children as they see fit, or are we going to step in and create some required parameters of behaviors to be taught to our children?
Baron Wiseman
@Openminded
We already do that. It’s called Child Protective Services.
dbmcvey
The latest conservative sock puppet is working overtime.
Openminded
Baron, my point exactly. We have CPS, but they are allowed to run roughshod using their own interpretation of the rules which creates a hodge podge of some families getting harassed while other families doing the same thing don’t get bothered. We need to bring this to the top and force a clear directive that will expose the inequities that are currently in the system. Let an affluent white families 4 y/o fall down the steps and it’s just a “childhood accident”, let a minority or gay families 4 y/o do the same thing and it can easily turn into a 48 hr removal of the child with an investigation into what were mommy and daddy or mommy and mommy doing at the time.
FreddieW
That would be unconstitutional, so why get upset about it?
dbmcvey
Because a lot of unconstitutional things become the norm, especially with the current Supreme Court.
FreddieW
I’m not concerned that the Supreme Court would uphold such a law. They wouldn’t.
dbmcvey
I hope you’re right but, we’ll see.
Openminded
And meanwhile, what do we do while we wait for this matter to reach the Supreme Court 3 years from now? I agree it is likely unconstitutional, but the current action is creating another roadblock today. Every voice or public appearance that is stopped today that just might be delivering the message of hope to a suicidal teen is worthless years from now when that kid is gone.
Herman75
Pride parades wouldn’t be the same without politicians, real estate agents and men in tighty whities.