General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums
Dem candidate for NY governor calls Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law "reasonable"
Link to tweet
Rebecca C. Lewis
@_rebeccaclewis
NEW: Candidate for governor Rep. Tom Suozzi called the new Florida law most fellow Democrats have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law "reasonable" and "common sense" in a radio interview yesterday
cityandstateny.com
Suozzi calls Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law “reasonable”
Asked on a conservative radio talk show about the controversial law, Rep. Tom Suozzi leaned into right-wing talking points about not wanting teachers discussing sexual orientation and gender identity.
1:07 PM · Apr 15, 2022
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2022/04/suozzi-calls-floridas-dont-say-gay-law-reasonable/365750/
Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is running against Gov. Kathy Hochul in the Democratic primary for governor, called a controversial new Florida law aimed at discouraging discussions about sexuality and gender in classrooms “reasonable.” Dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by its opponents, Democrats and LGBTQ activists have rallied against the bill as a discriminatory attempt to prevent any LGBTQ topics from getting discussed.
Suozzi was asked about the law while a guest on WABC’s Bernie & Sid in the Morning on Thursday. “I want to ask you about this Florida law, the Parental Rights Act, which prohibits teachers from talking sex, genitals, stuff like that, with kids kindergarten to third grade,” Sid Rosenberg said to Suozzi. He referenced the bill’s formal name, the Parental Rights in Education act, as well as right-wing talking points about the intent of the law being to protect children from age inappropriate sexual discussion in the classroom. Suozzi responded by echoing the same talking points.
“I think it’s a very reasonable law not to try to get kids in kindergarten to be talking about sex,” he said on the show. “I wish it wouldn’t become such a hot button issue where people are just attacking each other – it's just common sense.”
Suozzi followed up his reply with an assurance that he is not anti-gay. “I’m very much in favor of equal rights, I’m very much in favor of treating gay people fairly and treating them like the human beings they are,” he added without directly addressing the controversy surrounding the Florida law. When Rosenberg began bemoaning policy “based on 3% or in some cases 1% of the population” – an apparent reference to LGBTQ-centric legislation – Suozzi quickly took the conversation in a different direction to criticize Hochul’s Buffalo Bills stadium deal.
*snip*
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
PortTack
(35,820 posts)kelly1mm
(5,756 posts)think alike as we are a 'big tent' party, right? Right? ...........
Celerity
(54,407 posts)Suozzi, a member of the very problematic, bi-partisan, obstructionist, often anti-Pelosi (via multiple members), RW billionaire founded, Lieberman run (via its No Labels parent org) Problem Solvers caucus, advocates the lefties leaving our Party, and is one of the largest violators of the STOCK Act.
He also was a driving force behind restoring the SALT Cap to far too high of levels, where massive (hundreds of billions) tax breaks would go 96% to only the top 10%, and 56% straight to the top 1% (households with STARTING net worth of 13 million USD), and almost nothing to the bottom 75%. All that whilst reverting to typical RW austerity taking points about too much social spending, too big of debt/deficits.
Colour me not a fangirl.
House ethics panel to weigh action on Suozzi stock transaction filings
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsday.com/amp/news/nation/suozzi-stock-transactions-house-ethics-committee-jauqc943
As for big tent, he has repeatedly red baited and also told the Squad types, the (he loves RW talking points) radical far left, the socialists (lol) etc to leave the Dem party.
https://www.longislandpress.com/2021/11/05/suozzi-suggests-democratic-socialists-form-their-own-party/
U.S. Rep Tom Suozzi (D-Long Island/Queens) called on far-left socialists to form their own party so that the Democratic Party can stop caving to their demands and go back to their center-left roots of helping people while supporting capitalism.
snip
“There’s no question that there is a well-organized, broad-based Democratic Socialist wing, far left-wing, whatever you want to call it that exists. I would ask them to form a new party instead of trying to change the Democratic Party from its tried and true proven, time-honored values,” said Suozzi.
“The bottom line is we have to be willing to stand up to the far left because that message from the democratic socialist wing of the Democratic Party is destroying the party. It’s not what the American people want. And it’s bad for America. And it’s not a winning message, but it’s not going to go away. We’re gonna keep on, you know, suffering the death by 1000 cuts, unless we stand up and speak out against those policies and those tactics,” he added.
snip
“As far as the people that are currently out there, or could potentially be out there. I’m not going to comment about anyone individually, but no candidate, none of them has stood up to the far left. They’re either outright embracing the far left or they’re playing footsie with the far left. Democrats are going to lose unless we stand up to the far left,” said Suozzi.
marmar
(79,739 posts)onecaliberal
(36,594 posts)kelly1mm
(5,756 posts)onecaliberal
(36,594 posts)kelly1mm
(5,756 posts)gay marriage so I do not draw any hard and fast 'lines'. I try to look at the total of a persons positions. Also I look at the longevity of a candidate. This one has been a Democrat officeholder for just under 30 years so I am not predisposed to toss him under the bus.
So can you answer my question?
onecaliberal
(36,594 posts)There is no place in our party for that.
kelly1mm
(5,756 posts)want him kicked out of the party (is that even possible?)
onecaliberal
(36,594 posts)To live authentically who they are. Free from some piece of shit passing laws to control their lives. You do you, I will do me. And I won’t be sacrificing the rights of my fellows along the way.
kelly1mm
(5,756 posts)however acknowledge that he IS a Democrat and all Democrats do not agree on all the issues, That does not make them 'not Democrats'.
onecaliberal
(36,594 posts)kelly1mm
(5,756 posts)
choie
(6,905 posts)2008 or even 2016. He a damn ass.
kelly1mm
(5,756 posts)Beautiful Disaster
(667 posts)No one wants to talk to kindergartners about sex. That's such a terrible argument.
The issue with the Don't Say Gay bill is that it's dehumanizing gay kids and kids who may have gay parents by limiting a reasonable discussion about a fairly common situation nowadays.
It's not indoctrination for a seven year old to talk about his two moms.
That's where this bill goes wrong.
Deuxcents
(26,915 posts)Wish I could have said it as well as you
Budi
(15,325 posts)NY Governor candidate Suozzi faces possible probe over stock transactions
New York Democratic Governor candidate Tom Suozzi faces a possible investigation into his finances by the House Ethics Committee, according to an announcement from the committee.
The announcement released on April 14 said that the Ethics Committee will decide what action to take by later this summer. According to the New York Post, the announcement is related to a complaint filed by the nonprofit watchdog group Campaign Legal Center last September, which claimed that Suozzi failed to report up to $11 million in stock transactions for several years.
(Ethics Committee investigation results, pending)
SNIP
“The Committee notes that the mere fact of a referral or an extension, and the mandatory disclosure of such an extension and the name of the subject of the matter, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee,” the announcement read.
The statement said that the Committee will decide and announce by July 29, 2022 what actions it will take. The New York State Gubernatorial Democratic primaries are on June 28.
More...
Budi
(15,325 posts)
Karma13612
(4,981 posts)
UTUSN
(77,795 posts)And our best Dems won't run
leftstreet
(40,674 posts)No, I don't know that - just speculating.
Inasmuch as I know zero people in the real world even talking about this, I'm guessing if the question was put to them as it was above, they'd say no they don't think K-3 kids should be talking about gender, sex, orientation, etc.
Midwestern Democrat
(1,029 posts)the word "F*ck" until I saw it written in concrete at the age of 7 - and boy, was my mother aghast when I repeated the word when I got home. Mind you, I think in today's far more permissive culture, it's much more difficult to keep children as innocent about these matters than it used to be, but I'm sympathetic to the notion that it should be a parent's call as to how much they want their children to know about sexual matters at these ages.
Ferrets are Cool
(22,957 posts)they MUST be ready for "gotcha" questions like this and have the correct answer available.
Suozzi did not. 
Karma13612
(4,981 posts)I think that the conversations should be more toward answering kid’s questions when they are K-3. As I recall that would be approximately 5 years old to 8 years old.
At 5, kids are already asking lots of questions. We should answer them truthfully and honestly. By 8 years old, we should be actively teaching them about sex. I could be wrong on the age ranges, but I’m supportive of teaching anything at the appropriate time.
My guess would be that curriculums have already been created that take into account the kid’s ages and know what they can absorb and understand. Maybe Blue states do a better job and don’t avoid conversations about sex and LGBTQ topics.
The red states want to shelter the little ones, so they grow up to hate anything other than heterosexual couples and families and human beings. And heaven forbid they teach about sex so we can avoid unwanted pregnancies and STD’s. As we’ve seen, red states are happy to set up the scenario where little Suzie gets knocked up at 16 and can’t get out from under the legal and financial and mental and physical burden she finds herself carrying.
America is going backwards. Even Mexico and Ireland have seen the light.
Karma13612
(4,981 posts)He appears to be a centrist Democrat from suburban Long Island. He wants to get support from his base of conservative minded Dems out there.