Attention, Florida Girl Scouts: This is no time to be kind, considerate of others | Frank Cerabino

The Girl Scouts in Florida have no idea what danger they’re in.

“June is Pride Month and that means more than just a rainbow,” the Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida Facebook page announced. “It’s a celebration of the history, culture, and contributions of LGBTQIA+ people and their communities.”

Oh, the poor innocents.

“Your troop can learn about inclusivity, share what pride means to them, and read stories from people within the community.”

I guess they haven’t haven’t been paying attention to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ relentless effort to legislate hate and misinformation while silencing reason and compassion whenever they make an unauthorized appearance.

Lesson from Dreyfoos to Uvalde: All school intruders aren't alike | Frank Cerabino

More bees, please: Why we need more bees, not development, in Palm Beach County's Agriculture Reserve | Frank Cerabino

Another misfire: Florida's Rubio takes aim at COVID-19 vaccinations, not AR-15s | Frank Cerabino

Girl Scouts out of step with Florida

Inclusivity and gay pride have been officially redefined as pedophile “grooming.” It’s now branded as part of the sinister gay agenda that must be banished.

Books those same Girl Scouts might read about people being proud to be gay are being removed from their school bookshelves this summer.

So the Girl Scouts offering rainbow-flagged gay pride patches with red hearts on them is so, well, … 2017 of them.

Oh, the poor little lambs. And that’s just the half of it. The local Girl Scouts group is also promoting the “Juneteenth Freedom Day” patches to observe Black history.

Black history? Sound the alarm! Black history is on the naughty list in Florida.

Remember, we can’t be talking about the struggle to achieve social justice in this country because “social justice is closely aligned to Critical Race Theory,” as the state has recently warned.

The Scouts obviously have no idea that Florida has become a safe space for white pride, which has been turned into laws that redefine woeful chapters in American history as “subjective indoctrination that pushes collective guilt.”

But here’s how the Girl Scouts put it:

“Juneteenth occurs on June 19 every year and is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States! Your troop can learn about the holiday together, attend or host a celebration, support black-owned businesses, and talk about the importance of diversity in our country.”

I guess they also haven’t gotten the memo that diversity has been vilified under the state’s Stop WOKE (Wrong to Our Kids and Employers) Act, as a problematic form of discrimination against white workers and students.

“We believe an important component of freedom in the state of Florida is the freedom from having oppressive ideologies opposed upon you without your consent,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis, on the other hand, relishes taking punitive action on anybody who challenges his own oppressive ideologies.

Even Disney not safe from DeSantis

For example, When Disney World announced it could not support Florida's so-called “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, a hateful bill crafted to make gay teenagers feel ashamed about their sexual orientation, DeSantis punished the Florida business for not obeying his wishes.

He got the state Legislature to dissolve the private tax district Disney has had in Florida since its inception, and accused the company — which has donated more than $100,000 to his campaign — of becoming an unwholesome business in the state.

“It took a look under the hood to see what Disney has become to truly understand their inappropriate influence,” DeSantis told supporters in a fundraising letter.

Imagine that. And if you think that because you're Girl Scouts you are safe from DeSantis’ petty vindictiveness, think again.

Here’s just a sampling of his vindictive scorecard for the last couple weeks.

The horrific May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, prompted a national outcry for sensible gun regulations. In Uvalde, an 18-year old purchased an AR-15 and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and then used this weapon of war to kill 19 elementary school children and two teachers. Some of the bodies were mutilated so badly that they had to be identified by their clothing.

All over America, organizations called for new laws that would ban the sale of AR-15s to teenagers, enact red flag laws, and limit the size of magazines on firearms.

Two days after the shooting, the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees jointly decided to drop their game coverage on Twitter that night, and instead “offer facts about the impact of gun violence.”

The teams pointed out that 4,500 veterans die of gun suicides every year, and that guns were the leading cause of death for children in 2020.

“Everyday, more than 110 Americans are killed with guns, and more than 200 are shot and injured,” the Rays site tweeted.

The baseball team announced it was donating $50,000 to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that lobbies for gun safety regulations.

A week later, DeSantis retaliated against the Rays by vetoing legislation that provided $35 million for a new spring training facility for the team in Florida. DeSantis later linked the veto to the team’s gun-violence message, explaining that it is “inappropriate to subsidize political activism of a private corporation.”

The real problem is that the Tampa Bay Rays had offered a counternarrative on guns that didn’t conform to DeSantis’ own views. He had been promising fewer gun regulations, telling Florida gun owners he planned to support legislation that would allow them to carry firearms publicly without permits.

DeSantis said this past week that any gun control legislation would just “kneecap the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

"With all due respect to these leftists, they just want to come after your Second Amendment rights," DeSantis said.

With all due respect to reality: The teenage shooters in both Uvalde and Buffalo, N.Y., where 10 people were killed, were both law-abiding citizens who purchased their firearms legally. And in other news, the Second Amendment does not prohibit gun regulation or grant an unfettered constitutional right to unlimited firepower.

The Rays repeated unassailable facts about gun violence, and for that, they were punished by Florida’s governor.

Special Olympics faces play or pay in Florida

Next, DeSantis went after the Special Olympics. That’s right, Girl Scouts. Pay attention. If he’ll go after the Special Olympics, well, you’re basically antifa.

The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games held in Orlando this month included a vaccine requirement for participants.

We can’t have COVID-19 vaccine requirements in Florida, because DeSantis appointed an anti-vaxxer for a state surgeon general, and the governor’s own turn away from vaccinations, which has led to thousands of unnecessary deaths in Florida, has to be sublimated to his “free Florida” campaign strategy.

So that meant threatening the Special Olympics with a $27.5 million fine if it kept its vaccination requirement for the Florida event.

“We’ve never seen something wielded like this vaccine to try to marginalize disfavored people,” DeSantis said. “And a lot of these special Olympians have also had COVID by now.”

The Special Olympics caved at the last minute, eliminating its vaccine requirement.

“We don’t want to fight,” the group said in a statement. “We want to play.”

I hope you’re paying attention, Girl Scouts. You may be next.

Girl Scouts need to take Florida precautions

So here’s my suggestion. Get rid of those patches that celebrate gay pride and acknowledge our country’s mistreatment of its Black citizens.

I’m sure the NRA can get you some AR-15 patches for the girls to wear, and there must be some Confederate soldier gravesites you can visit to earn a White Lives Matter merit badge.

And have you thought about including free samples of hydroxychloroquine to hand out with Thin Mints on your next cookie drive?

I’m worried about you, Girl Scouts. There’s a dangerous bully on the loose in Florida, and I don’t want you to be his next victim.

Frank Cerabino is a columnist at the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at fcerabino@gannett.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: DeSantis targets Special Olympics, Rays, Disney. Are Girl Scouts next?