by Wayne Besen • May 25, 2023 • News, Opinion, Politics • Comments (0) • 33

Anti-DeSantis Project Launched to Shake Complacency Over ‘Little Dictator’ Threat

DELRAY BEACH, FL- Activists launched a project today to push back on what they see as complacency over the threat caused by Ron DeSantis. The multi-media project is called LittleDicRon.com, after what they consider “Little Dictator” behaviors of the Florida governor.

“Floridians know the price of underestimating Ron DeSantis,” LittleDicRon.com co-creator Wayne Besen said. “We have an urgent warning for the rest of the nation: Take this threat seriously. If given the opportunity, DeSantis will export his ignorance and extremism to the rest of America. We are a group of deeply-concerned Florida citizens committed to ensuring this Orwellian nightmare never occurs.”

Our goal is to create a laser focus on the “Real Ron DeSantis”, providing crucial updates and offering critical insight. We also aim to inspire Americans to stand up and speak out against the threat posed by this dangerous demagogue.

Little Dic[tator] Ron is a joint project created by South Florida LGBTQ advocate Wayne Besen and Andrés Echavarría Cañas, a multi-media digital creator who specializes in promoting democracy and human rights. Besen is an author and executive director of the non-profit Truth Wins Out, based in Delray Beach, and a former spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ organization.

The Wayne Besen Show’s TikTok Ron DeSantis Playlist has received more than one million views. Last week’s video, featuring Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Steven Glassman criticizing DeSantis’ policies, went viral with nearly a quarter million views. Earlier this month, Besen penned an op-ed for the South Florida Sun Sentinel discussing DeSantis’ unconstitutional attacks on drag queens and LGBTQ Pride.

The irreverent website paints a dire and painfully accurate portrait of the dark cloud Ron DeSantis has brought to the Sunshine State. In no uncertain terms, LittleDicRon.com describes how the governor undermines Florida, soils the state’s reputation and threatens its economic future. The website states:

Welcome to DeSantistan, a radical and oppressive right-wing dystopia that undermines democracy, vindictively punishes political opponents and cruelly bullies vulnerable citizens. It is ruled by “Little Dic[tator] Ron” DeSantis, a dangerous demagogue who has conspired with his Republican puppets in the Florida legislature to rapidly transform Florida from a sophisticated, international destination into an intolerant, bigoted backwater.

Under Little Dic Ron, Florida has become unaffordable, a COVID deathtrap, an educational abyss, a citadel of censorship and a hotbed of hate. It’s no coincidence that under his “leadership,” neo-Nazis have been emboldened and regularly disseminate hate literature and parade, while the Florida governor remains silent on their swastikas.

From the fascist right, he scapegoats minorities, purges libraries, forces women to give birth on demand and indoctrinates schoolchildren with his sectarian agenda. From the totalitarian Stalinist wing, DeSantis demands the business community adhere to his worldview or face severe punishment. Whether he persecutes drag queens or dictates to Disney, no one is safe in Florida unless they bow down to the authority of the state.

From 1998-2003, Besen served as a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ political organization. Besen has appeared on leading news and political talk shows including: the NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, CNN’s AC360, Fox’s O’Reilly Factor and The Sean Hannity Show, and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. He has been quoted in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Advocate, Newsweek, TIME, The Nation, The Miami Herald, The Sun Sentinel and Mother Jones. In 2003, he wrote Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. In 2006, Besen founded the LGBTQ rights organization Truth Wins Out, which is based in Delray Beach.

LittleDicRon.com is dedicated to recently deceased South Florida Gay News publisher Norm Kent, who said that his “biggest disappointment” about having terminal cancer was not having enough time “to sue Ron DeSantis for the drag queen stuff.”