Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed a bill that bars counties and cities from funding or promoting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and he used the signing to argue that DEI programs have harmed white men. The Republican governor said the policies are not neutral efforts to address inequities, but instead function as an ideological effort to advance a political agenda.
At a news conference after the signing, DeSantis said DEI is “an ideological construct that is designed to promote a particular political agenda, particularly to the detriment of disfavored groups.” Speaking in Jacksonville, he added, “The disfavored groups, No. 1, obviously, would be white males, and I think they’ve been discriminated against,” before characterizing the situation as “wrong.”
DeSantis also told the crowd that people who consider that outcome acceptable are mistaken, saying, “It’s it’s like a lot of people are, ‘Oh that’s fine. That’s fine.’ No, it’s not fine. It’s wrong.” The governor tied his broader remarks on DEI to examples he said people should view as discrimination rather than as merit-based assessment, and he suggested that when barriers stem from discrimination, governments should consider policies that “even the playing field.”
Evelyn Foxx, president of the NAACP branch in Gainesville, criticized DeSantis’s description of how white men feel about discrimination tied to DEI. Foxx said, “If you talked to 100 white men, they wouldn’t feel the same way” as DeSantis, and she characterized his comments as out of touch.
Supporters of DEI, according to the reporting, argue that the purpose of such programs is to remedy the effects of long-term discrimination against certain groups. The nationwide debate over DEI has intensified as conservatives have pushed to limit or end diversity initiatives across companies, schools and government programs.
During his two terms in office, DeSantis’s administration has championed measures that restrict DEI spending by public colleges and universities and has supported the “Stop WOKE Act,” which limits how race and sex are taught in schools, according to the same report. Democratic lawmakers have warned that the new legislation could be overbroad and potentially unconstitutional.
Under the law DeSantis signed, residents can sue local governments for violations, and officials who are found to have funded DEI initiatives in violation of the statute can be removed from office. DeSantis said at the signing, “When people know there is accountability they are much more apt to toe the line.”
The bill arrives as DEI remains a persistent point of contention in Florida and elsewhere, with supporters and opponents continuing to dispute both what DEI programs are intended to do and who is affected by them.