LGBTQ outrage over DeSantis visit to NYC during Pride Month

NEW YORK (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to appear before a friendly conference of conservative Jewish leaders in New York City on Sunday, despite efforts by gay rights advocates to get the event canceled.

LGBTQ groups, still raw over legislation barring instruction about sexual orientation to grade schoolers that DeSantis championed in his home state, are vowing to protest the Republican's appearance at the Jewish Leadership Conference.

Critics have derisively called it the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman said it was “outrageous” that the governor was speaking during Pride Month and in an area not far from the birthplace of the gay rights movement in Manhattan’s West Village.

He called DeSantis an “outspoken opponent of LGBTQ equality who is trying to foist his agenda on LGBTQ families, and it’s extremely hurtful and distressing.”

DeSantis campaign spokesman Dave Abrams did not respond directly to that criticism, but said the governor “will always stand up for what is right and will not be deterred by the radical Left.”

DeSantis, who is widely believed to be weighing a bid for the White House in 2024, inflamed ire among LGBTQ groups when in March he signed into law a bill that forbids Florida schools from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity to public school students from kindergarten through the third grade.

At the time of the bill signing, DeSantis said schools were a place for “an education, not an indoctrination.”

The Jewish Leadership Conference has already lost one venue in New York City after adding DeSantis to its list of speakers.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage had been set to host the annual gathering of conservative thinkers, but backed out earlier this...