Recently the cities of New York City and Chicago publicly wagged their fingers at the state of Florida – and it’s understandable why a Floridian’s first instinct would be to wonder how either city could have the blatant gall to do so.
Related:Mayor Eric Adams invites Floridians to New York, denounces ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law in billboards
After all:
• Both cities are led by mayors with decidedly mixed records.
• Both cities are plagued by rising levels of crime and violence.
• Both cities are facing major crises regarding the lack of affordable housing.
• Both cities are notorious for taking less-than-progressive approaches to addressing homelessness.
• Both cities are struggling to come to grips with alarming problems in their educational systems.
And if you really want to get petty about things, most of the professional sports teams in both cities are horrible.
But if you’re a Floridian who can put aside the parochial urge to be defensive about our state getting roasted by two cities with little room to talk, you have to concede that our New York City and Chicago critics – as hypocritical as they may be – do have a point.
For example, you could argue that New York City Mayor Eric Adams was full of, er, sanctimonious shamelessness when he arranged for digital billboards and social media ads to be displayed in five Florida cities touting his city while ripping our state.
But was Adams actually wrong to undertake this media campaign to express opposition to the “Parental Rights in Education” bill recently passed by the Florida Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis – a reprehensible law that will effectively ostracize, stigmatize and silence LGBTQ schoolchildren in our state?
Previous coverage:LGBTQ groups, parents file federal lawsuit opposing Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law
If you’re an objective-minded Floridan, the answer has to be “No.
And, sure, you could argue that World Business Chicago – that city’s pretentious-sounding economic development agency – should have better ways to use its funds than to buy a full-page ad in the Orlando Sentinel to encourage people in Florida to relocate to the more-enlightened Windy City.
Amuse:Chicago promotes itself as LGBTQ-friendly in bashing DeSantis, Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law
But was the agency actually wrong to use that ad to promote Chicago as an inclusive city that freely welcomes everyone – in contrast to the obvious efforts by DeSantis and others to make Florida a less welcoming state for people of various backgrounds, beliefs and gender identities?
If you’re an open-minded Floridan, here, too, the answer has to be “No.”
It’s bad when our state is the target of criticism from cities that have no right to cast stones elsewhere. But it’s even worse when there’s genuine justification for that outside criticism. And here’s the sad truth: while the trolling Florida is currently enduring from New York City and Chicago is annoying, it is also appropriate.