No. I don't think requiring some sort of medical consent to have your manhood chopped off is the same as a "political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."
I don't throw around nazism and fascism arbitrarily the way you do. I don't agree with some of the culture wars, but this isn't Hitler or Mussolini.
You’re probably correct that this singular legislation doesn’t strictly fall into the category of Fascism. However, when you look at the totality of what the state of Florida has done under DeSantis and has proposed doing, I think its absolutely fair to categorize their treatment of the LGBTQ community as Fascist.
Fascism is sometimes a difficult -ism to define, because each iteration of Fascism looks slightly different. Being that its an authoritarian system, how it looks in different countries depends entirely on the authoritarian in place. Hitler’s fascism was markedly different from Mussolini’s fascism, to the point that I’d consider Nazism to be its own ideology altogether.
But, there are a few characteristics that every Fascist regime does have in common, and one of them is that there is a systematic and purposeful persecution of a specific, targeted group of people with the primary goal of eliminating them from society. To be sure “eliminating” doesn’t necessarily mean executing, though it certainly did in Nazism, but when I say eliminating I mean just that, simply the removal of that specific group from that specific state by whatever means the government is able to actuate.
Traditionally, we have understood that persecution in Fascism to be based on race, ethnicity, and/or nationality. However - and I wrote about this in another thread on this topic a few weeks ago - what we’re seeing in Florida and other conservative states is a new type of Fascism that is based on religion, its a sort of theocratic Fascism where the groups being targeted aren’t based on race or ethnicity but rather on grounds that they are undesirable based on specific religious values. This, of course, means that the LGBTQ community has become the primary target.
And when I say its a new Fascism, its really only new to the west. This type of theocratic fascism has existed in the middle east for some time. Iran, Saudi Arabia, and now Afghanistan under Taliban rule are very clear examples of this. In fact, “Islamofascism” was a phrase heavily adopted by American conservatives after 9/11, and it was a wildly accurate term. Ironically, we‘re learning that “christofascism” in America has a similar look (I just made that term up, by the way).
With this piece of legislation and others, its clear that Florida is attempting to systematically target and persecute the LGBTQ (most especially the “Ts”) community to the point that it drives them out of the state of Florida and prevents other members of that community from moving into the state of Florida. Therefore, IMO, it very clearly meets one the absolute core tenants of Fascism. When you look at other proposals or rhetoric from DeSantis, its easy to see that there are other Fascist elements to his style of governance. Most notably, using the government to specifically target a private company (Disney) for the sole reason that they spoke out against legislation is a blatant, in your face example of Fascism.
One thing I think we forget a lot about Hitler and the Nazis - and before I make this point, I want to make it clear that I’m not saying DeSantis is a Nazi or anything close to that - is that they didn’t just snap their fingers and get into power. They were legally elected before they eventually developed the authoritarian state. It wasn’t a revolution, it was a gradual and lawful process that was proceeded by over a decade’s worth of purposeful, systematic rhetoric, legislation, and erosion of civil rights and existing laws before Hitler became the sole ruler in 1933.
Fascism creeps, it crawls. And right now in the state of Florida, you’re seeing this new wave of American Fascism creep and crawl its way into prominence and there’s a large enough chunk of voters that either A) don’t care because it doesn’t impact them personally and they can benefit financially from it or B) actively approve and want to see Fascist legislation prevail that DeSantis is considered a legitimate contender for the Presidency.
