Talk about a grim goodbye.
A longtime South Florida columnist, Fred Grimm, put down his pen this week after 56 years on the job. In his farewell column, he recounts a career covering a never-ending spate of tragedies, including natural disasters, KKK rallies, mass murders, drug wars and civil war.
But nothing has been more toxic, he says, than the current atmosphere in his home state.
Politics, but make it gay!
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“Not that it hasn’t been fun chronicling Florida’s descent into a waterlogged, python-infested, uninsurable, hurricane-pummeled, book-banning, gay-bashing authoritarian dystopia, but I’m outta here,” he writes in the lede.
For the duration of the piece, Grimm shifts between sober observation and caustic cynicism–like every great newspaper columnist. He says he realized early in his career that editors issue “bulletproof vests” to photographers, while outfitting reporters with “skinny notebooks and Bic pens.”
For most of the last five decades, that was all the armor Grimm needed. That is, until Trump was elected president and Ron “Don’t Say Gay” DeSantis emerged from the back benches of Congress to be sworn in as governor. Grimm says the ascendence of a virulently nasty, hom*ophobic right-wing caused him to reevaluate his career.
At 76 years old, he’s finally decided to retire.
“A nasty, mutant strain of populism has taken hold of Florida and the rest of red-state America,” he writes. “Facts don’t matter. Medical science is rejected. Literary masterpieces are banned. Abortion is outlawed. Teachers are persecuted. Disney is villainized. MAGA pols, up to their shins in sunny-day flooding, deny that we’re in the throes of global warming.”
He continues, “Meanwhile, MAGA heroes’ lies, sexual misdeeds and financial shenanigans are dismissed as media inventions. Jury verdicts and fair elections are disparaged as leftwing conspiracies.”
He’s not done.
“Violent insurrection has become OK. Vladimir Putin is a role model. hom*ophobia, racism and xenophobia provide the subtext of the new politics. And a majority of white, working class Americans, including most of my relatives back in West Virginia, embrace politicians who promise to pummel elites and demean minorities.”
Whew! A pen is truly mightier than a sword…
The last of me pic.twitter.com/QOqACqrWRz
— Fred Grimm (@grimm_fred) June 1, 2024
"A columnist needs to balance his dark musings with optimism … But I'm all out." https://t.co/SvtV0kWRJO
— Dan Rodricks, Baltimore Sun, News Guild (@DanRodricks) June 2, 2024
Final column from a Florida legend. https://t.co/2MSpoTW5oi
— Kevin Cate (@KevinCate) June 2, 2024
The ageless, incomparable @grimm_fred retires and Florida and journalism will be poorer for it. "I'm all out of optimism." https://t.co/bdDGd7ms4W
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) June 1, 2024
Grimm’s biting commentary has gone viral, resulting in a writeup on Fox News. The vitriolic reaction he’s received since probably doesn’t make him regret his decision.
“I had wondered why my email suddenly went berserk. Like a spewing geyser of loathing,” he posted on social media.
I had wondered why my email suddenly went berserk. Like a spewing geyser of loathing. https://t.co/u9H7jsmasD
— Fred Grimm (@grimm_fred) June 3, 2024
This Pride season, DeSantis has already distinguished himself as the most hom*ophobic governor in the U.S. Prior to Memorial Day, he announced the next four months in Florida will be deemed “Freedom Summer.”
And as part of the initiative, freedom of expression will be curtailed! Over the next three months, Florida bridges can only be illuminated in red, white and blue. That means no rainbow flags for Pride.
Related*
This screams “Don’t Say Gay”.
Some clever gays, however, found a workaround. Last week, an army of LGBTQ+ folx and allies walked onto the Acosta Bridge in Jacksonville armed with flashlights… and lit up the structure with rainbow colors.
— Travis Akers (@travisakers) June 1, 2024I love my city! In response to Gov. Ron DeSantis banning Pride lights being displayed on bridges in Florida this year, dozens of local residents used different color flashlights to project a rainbow on the Main Street Bridge in downtown Jacksonville.
Picture: @JimmyMidyette pic.twitter.com/MBv3VQwVOH
Grimm isn’t the only Floridian, both young and old, to decry the state’s toxic conditions. Earlier this spring, NBC News interviewed several Floridians about their plans to leave, and the Sunshine State’s offsetting vibes.
As of last summer, Florida was the second-fastest growing state in the U.S., only behind Texas. More than 700,000 people flocked there in 2022; and last year, there were nearly two homebuyers for every one leaving.
But simultaneously, there’s an exodus. Nearly 500,000 people left the state in 2022 as well.
The weather, once Florida’s main draw, is now one of the biggest reasons people are leaving. With worsening storms and hurricanes, homeowners insurance rates are skyrocketing. They rose by 42% last year, an average of $6,000 per homeowner.
Car insurance rates are also 50% higher than the national average. And there’s no apparent plan in place to combat the crises.
Instead, DeSantis signed a bill deemphasizing climate change in state policy… even though climate change is responsible for an array of Florida’s looming threats (excessive heat, flooding, rising seas and severe weather).
If there is a positive, DeSantis seems to be a wounded political animal. His anti-LGBTQ+ agenda is finally hitting roadblocks in the Republican-dominated Florida legislature. According toTruthout, 21 of 22 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were effectively eliminated in this year’s legislative session.
DeSantis has made concessions in thesettlements of multiple lawsuitsinvolving the state and Disney; and his signature “Don’t Say Gay” legislation was also clawed back, with a Florida court deciding the law was too broad.
In addition, the court found the law doesn’t prohibit “incidental references in literature to a gay or transgender person or to a same-sex couple.”
He’s even admitted defeat on his signature school book bans!
With a vibrant LGBTQ+ population, those intent on turning Florida into a “gay-bashing authoritarian dystopia” promise to keep facing resistance. May Grimm’s pen serve as a proverbial calling of arms queers.
Related*
The Florida governor signed a bill Tuesday that severely curtails his infamous book ban.
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