On Wednesday, the Florida Board of Education banned the teaching of gender identity and sexuality throughout all grades in public schools, expanding a nearly year-old legislative ban on such lessons for younger children. The rule change is championed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who once said that "Florida is where woke goes to die".
DeSantis's goal is to eradicate what he sees as radical left ideologies such as Critical Race Theory and gender studies. To do so, he can count on the Republican-led state legislature to push through conservative legislation. His agenda has been slammed by US liberals but is popular in Florida, where he was easily reelected as governor last November.
This "war on woke" is symptomatic of a deeper political divide in the US, where DeSantis is widely expected to run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
FRANCE 24's Fanny Allard reports from Miami, with Kethevane Gorjestani.
