{"id":242877,"date":"2026-04-23T06:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242877\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T06:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:01:12","slug":"desantis-claims-dei-initiatives-discriminate-against-white-men-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/242877\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis claims DEI initiatives discriminate against white men in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) \u2014 White men have been discriminated against through diversity, equity and inclusion<\/a> programs, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a> said Wednesday after signing legislation which prohibits counties and cities from funding or promoting DEI initiatives.<\/p>\n

The Republican governor defined DEI at a news conference as \u201can ideological construct that is designed to promote a particular political agenda, particularly to the detriment of disfavored groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe disfavored groups, No. 1, obviously, would be white males, and I think they\u2019ve been discriminated against,\u201d DeSantis said in Jacksonville. \u201cAnd it\u2019s it\u2019s like a lot of people are, \u2018Oh that\u2019s fine. That\u2019s fine.\u2019 No, it\u2019s not fine. It\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the governor is entitled to his opinion, his views differ from \u201ceveryone else\u2019s,\u201d said Evelyn Foxx, president of the NAACP branch in Gainesville.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you talked to 100 white men, they wouldn\u2019t feel the same way\u201d as DeSantis, Foxx said when asked Wednesday about his comments. \u201cThe governor is out of touch with people, and that is the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters say the purpose of DEI is to remedy the effects of long-term discrimination against certain groups. A nationwide push<\/a> by conservatives to limit diversity programs has led many companies<\/a>, schools and governments to pull back on those initiatives, particularly during the current Trump administration, and DEI has been a frequent target for the governor.<\/p>\n

DeSantis also said Wednesday that Asian Americans had faced discrimination in university admissions and that people should be judged on their merits not their demographic backgrounds. If people still face barriers because of discrimination, there should be policies to \u201ceven the playing field,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that is not the same as trying to socially engineer certain outcomes to the detriment of groups that some of the intellectual elite disfavor,\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n

During his two terms in office, DeSantis\u2019 administration has championed legislation which prohibits public colleges and universities from spending money on DEI programs and promoted the \u201cStop WOKE Act,\u201d which restricts how race and sex are taught in schools.<\/p>\n

Democratic lawmakers have warned that the legislation was overbroad and potentially unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

Under the legislation, residents can sue local governments for violations. If local officials are found to have funded DEI initiatives in violation of the law, they can be removed from office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people know there is accountability they are much more apt to toe the line,\u201d DeSantis said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) \u2014 White men have been discriminated against through diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Florida Gov.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1433,1930,18674,409,2497,87713,107131,1882,28,30,29,2496,477,4137,128,4138,13703,99,1431,412,1110],"class_list":{"0":"post-242877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-black-experience","9":"tag-discrimination","10":"tag-diversity","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-education-funding","13":"tag-equity-and-inclusion","14":"tag-evelyn-foxx","15":"tag-fl-state-wire","16":"tag-florida","17":"tag-florida-headlines","18":"tag-florida-news","19":"tag-gainesville","20":"tag-general-news","21":"tag-lawsuits","22":"tag-legislation","23":"tag-mike-schneider","24":"tag-naacp","25":"tag-politics","26":"tag-race-and-ethnicity","27":"tag-ron-desantis","28":"tag-u-s-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}