Wayne Besen thinks Ron DeSantis is a little dic. “As in dictator,” he says.
This profile is a part of our series The DeSantis Defiers - Meet the 5 LGBT Activists Giving the Governor Hell. Read more here.
Hence, Besen’s new website: LittleDicRon.com. Launched last month, the site has dual goals of trolling the governor and propelling his opponents.
“I’m very concerned this is a one-way culture war,” says Besen, an LGBT rights activist in Wilton Manors. “We’ve seen nonstop attacks on our community – and the most vile attacks. When DeSantis’ press secretary accuses us of grooming, he’s accusing us of having sex with children. That leads to hate crime. You’re basically begging zealots to attack us.”
So now, Besen is begging his own community to fight back. Actually, he’s yelling at them to do it.
“We have to punch back!” he says. Instead, he claims local business and political leaders aren’t even speaking up.
“When times are tough, you have to step up for your community, and I haven’t seen enough people do that,” Besen says. “I think these politicians and business leaders in Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors need to ask themselves: ‘When fascism came to Florida, what did I do?’ I want everyone to ask themselves that question.”
He’s not beyond calling out those leaders: “San Francisco gave us Harvey Milk. Fort Lauderdale has given milquetoast!”
It’s a controversial approach, but the former TV reporter is accustomed to that. The 52-year-old made a name for himself back in 2000, when he photographed an “ex-gay Christian activist” (yes, those were once a thing) in a Washington D.C. gay bar. The hypocrisy of a religious leader who insisted Christ had “cured” him was covered in The Washington Post and other national news outlets.
Besen has also called out his own community before. For instance, he reported inconsistencies in the personal stories from anti conversion activist Sam Brinton – and accused his fellow activists of ignoring "clear warning signs" and being "sloppy, ethically negligent, and shockingly unprofessional."
These days, Besen runs the website Truth Wins Out, a non-profit organization fighting against conversion therapy and “ex-gay” values. Their homepage features a story called, “Ron DeSantis is too paranoid to be president.” His new site isn’t that subtle.
LittleDicRon.com features DeSantis’ face Photoshopped into all manner of dictator garb while insulting everything from his anti-Semitism to his “eating habits.” And of course, there’s merch – from shirts that say “abort the GOP” to tote bags that say, “It’s Florida, not DeSantistan.”
In addition to both websites, Besen also runs a TikTok account with over 32,000 followers and over 1 million-plus views on videos about DeSantis.
“We’re gonna hit him from every direction, from every angle, because he's been a disaster for this state in every conceivable way,” Besen says. “He thinks he’s using our community to be president, but I’m here to tell you that ain't gonna happen. He’s a two-bit tin horn bully with a glass jaw. This is someone who will fold in a fight.”
Follow him on Twitter and TikTok.
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