Karine Jean-Pierre Denounces 'Don't Say Gay' Expansion and Bud Light Threats

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday denounced multiple anti-LGBTQ+ actions around the nation, including Florida’s expansion of its “don’t say gay” law and the violence threatened by those who object to transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney’s endorsement of Bud Light beer.

The Florida Board of Education Wednesday expanded the so-called Parental Rights in Education law to ban public school instruction regarding sexual orientation or gender identity through 12^th grade. Previously, under the legislation passed last year, this instruction had been forbidden in kindergarten through third grade, with a vague requirement that it be age-appropriate thereafter.

Jean-Pierre called the Florida law “dystopian” and a form of “cancel culture.” “Teachers in Florida have already faced the devastating consequences of the existing law,” she said at the White House press briefing. “Under threat of having their licenses revoked, gay teachers have been forced to take down pictures of their spouses from their desks and censor their classroom materials. Censoring our classes is not how public education is supposed to work in a free country.

“Conservative politicians love to complain about the so-called cancel culture, all while threatening teachers with losing their jobs if they teach something that the MAGA extremists don’t agree with.”

On the Bud Light matter, the lesbian press secretary responded to threats against Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Bud Light. There have been bomb threats at the company’s factories in Los Angeles and elsewhere due to its partnership with Mulvaney, who released an Instagram video promoting the beer.

“When a transgender American posts a video about a brand of beer they enjoy and it leads to bomb threats, it’s clear that that level of violence and vitriol against transgender Americans has to stop,” Jean-Pierre said.

President Joe Biden and his administration are “going to do everything that they can to support LGBTQI+ people who are under attack, and that’s what we’ve been seeing across the country, especially in statehouses,” she continued. “And so we’re going to fight alongside them to protect their rights. They should be allowed to be who they are, who they want to be, and they should be able to speak out and others should be able to speak out about hate and discrimination. … That type of vitriolic language and violence, that needs to stop.”

Conservative entertainers such as Kid Rock and Travis Tritt have objected to Bud Light’s relationship with Mulvaney, and some have called for boycotts, while country star Zach Bryan has stood up for inclusion. Some right-wing politicians have commented as well, with Republican U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance telling Newsweek,“If a company that depends heavily on working-class Republican voters wants to insult its customer base, it is going to suffer consequences.”