{"id":243297,"date":"2026-04-23T14:26:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243297\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:26:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:26:45","slug":"desantis-signs-florida-law-banning-local-dei-funding-says-white-men-are-disfavored-orlando-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243297\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis signs Florida law banning local DEI funding, says white men are \u2018disfavored\u2019 \u2013 Orlando Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhite males\u201d have been discriminated against through diversity, equity and inclusion<\/a> programs, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proclaimed <\/a>Wednesday as he signed legislation which prohibits counties and cities from funding or promoting DEI initiatives.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe disfavored groups, No. 1, obviously, would be white males, and I think they\u2019ve been discriminated against,\u201d DeSantis said. \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

DeSantis\u2019 remarks were some of his sharpest yet about the purported impact of DEI programs on white men \u2014 underscoring the priority the lame duck governor has placed on the controversial issue.<\/p>\n

Supporters say the purpose of DEI is to remedy the effects of long-term discrimination against certain groups. But 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

Florida\u2019s Democratic lawmakers have warned that the legislation signed by the governor was overbroad and potentially unconstitutional, and local officials across the state fear the new law could harm traditional events ranging from Pride parades to St. Patrick\u2019s Day, Lunar New Year and other festivals celebrating a host of cultures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t value diversity, equity and inclusion, then don\u2019t go to the parade,\u201d Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan said in February when the bill was being debated in Tallahassee.<\/p>\n

Bill sponsor state Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, argued at the time that the legislation wouldn\u2019t prevent local festivals from occurring, and local governments would still be allowed to issue permits and provide public safety protection. But he acknowledged it would prevent local governments from spending money to promote or even sponsor them.<\/p>\n

Under the legislation, residents can sue local governments for violations, making future decisions on festivals, parades and even proclamations a potential minefield. If local officials are found to have funded DEI initiatives in violation of the law, they can be removed from office, a tool DeSantis has been quick to use.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people know there is accountability they are much more apt to toe the line,\u201d DeSantis said at the Jacksonville news conference.<\/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

Last year, Orange County abruptly ended its fledgling DEI and sustainability grant programs for arts and cultural organizations, citing fear of jeopardizing state and federal government funding.<\/p>\n

Orange County also suspended its Minority\/Women Business Enterprise program, which helped award contracts to minority and women-owned businesses, and Orlando did the same with its similar program.<\/p>\n

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, appointed last year by DeSantis, has pushed similar initiatives in his time in office, including ordering the NFL to stop enforcing the \u201cRooney Rule\u201d requiring teams to interview minority candidates for coaching positions.<\/p>\n

No new African American head coaches were hired by teams in 2026, and only three African Americans currently have head coaching jobs in a league in which about 70% percent of players are Black. The NFL has vowed to continue the rule.<\/p>\n

Uthmeier also announced on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that he would refuse to \u201cdefend or enforce\u201d state laws that include race-based contracting preferences and minority representation requirements for government boards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWhite males\u201d have been discriminated against through diversity, equity and inclusion programs, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proclaimed Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[28,29,114,115,139,141,140,99,109],"class_list":["post-243297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243297","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=243297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}