Ohio’s GOP governor succeeded where DeSantis failed | Letters to the editor
Florida and Ohio are both red-performing states with Republican governors, Republican legislatures and right-wing leaning judiciaries.
But the states’ two governors, Ron DeSantis in Florida and Mike DeWine in Ohio, are diametrically opposite when it comes to doing what is best for their constituents — as opposed to what is in their self-interest.
This can easily be seen in their approach to gender-affirming care for youths.
Ohio’s Republican legislature passed a law outlawing gender-affirming care and sent it on to DeWine for his signature.
He carefully took much time to talk to youths, parents, doctors and those who had experienced care. He visited hospitals, talked to medical professionals and then publicly announced his decision to veto this legislation. He stated that signing the bill would be saying that the government knows what is better for our youth than the parents and the doctors.
It was a bold and courageous decision by Gov. DeWine, based on considerable research and a desire to do what’s right for his constituents.
On the other hand, there is the approach of Florida’s governor. How many parents of transgender and binary youths did he speak with? How many doctors and medical professionals did he approach to educate himself? Based on DeSantis’ public statements on the issue, I would guess Ohio’s governor is 10 times more knowledgeable on gender-affirming care than is DeSantis.
Gov. DeSantis signed legislation banning gender-affirming care solely on the basis of trying to further his political ambitions. Gov. DeWine based his decision after being educated and then deciding what was in the best interests of his constituents.
A true tale of two governors.
Martin Kleinbart, Aventura
Dean Black’s dog whistle
You report that state Rep. Dean Black of Jacksonville wants to pass a law requiring restoration of Confederate monuments because it is history. If that’s the standard, we should also have monuments to John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald — both major historical figures.
But why stop there? How about Hitler? Stalin? Rep. Black tosses out the “cancel culture” dog whistle. It’s his status as a lawmaker that should be cancelled.
Neil Katz, Boynton Beach
Honoring insurrectionists
I went back over the Sun Sentinel article about Rep. Dean Black, who wants to make it a crime to remove statues honoring the Confederacy.
House Bill 395 states (and I quote): “Accurate history belongs to all Floridians in perpetuity.”
That sounds nice until you remember that when it comes to Florida’s history with slavery, our governor and his followers won’t let critical race theory be taught and slavery was characterized as, for some, a job training program. Not accurate, but their version of history is what they want, as in China or Russia.
I would say their level of hypocrisy astounds me, but not today when they describe as “tourists” people who attacked the U.S. Capitol to stop a legitimate electoral count, destroyed property, beat police with a flagpole with an American flag on it and tased another policeman multiple times in the head.
The Jan. 6 insurrectionists are a terrible echo of the Civil War insurrectionists that Rep. Black now wants honored.
Ray Belongie, Sunrise
History? For whom?
As Rep. Dean Black stated: “It is history, and history belongs to all Floridians.”
If Black wants to restore fallen Confederate statues, will he also provide us with the story of why Confederates are to be honored, but not Union soldiers?
Because our history speaks of a nation torn between completing images, where one side rejected the results of the election of 1860, fought to preserve slavery, and wrote their own constitution, while leading Confederate generals, who swore “to support and defend” the Constitution of the United States, then reneged on their sacred oaths.
Phil Beasley, Plantation