OPINION:
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is in the midst of a campaign to troll Florida over the Sunshine State’s new Parental Rights in Education law. Critics have dubbed the controversial legislation the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, despite the fact the word “gay” isn’t mentioned anywhere in the text.
Mr. Adams, taking aim at the law, decided to launch a digital billboard campaign in Florida, encouraging those offended by the parental rights bill, which will become law in July, to move to New York. His argument: In his city, people can be who they are and say what they feel.
“I have a message for Florida’s LGBTQ+ community: come to a city where you can say and be whoever you want,” he proclaimed on Twitter.
This might seem like a merry platitude, but there are at least two major problems with Mr. Adams’ proclamation. First, New York has been bleeding residents, a dynamic exacerbated by COVID-19. People desperate for a dose of freedom and financial stability have, in fact, been flocking to Florida, not away from the state.
But the broader issue is the tone deafness with which Mr. Adams’ administration is operating. Consider that the mayor embarked on this quest to encourage people to “say and be whoever” just days after making headlines for purportedly forcing a Christian minister to resign from an important position on a critical New York education board.
The Rev. Kathlyn Barrett-Layne of Reach Out and Touch Ministries in Port Richmond on Staten Island — a veteran teacher with experience at almost every level of the city education system — was reportedly forced to step down from the Panel for Education Policy after her traditional, biblical views on sex came to light.
Ms. Barrett-Layne had written books that framed homosexuality as a sin, listing it along with other immoral acts found in scripture. Mr. Adams, whose office initially praised her as an inspiring minister who teaches the Bible, hours later reportedly demanded she step down.
As I reported on Faithwire, Mr. Adams’ office said officials were “unaware” of her writings and that she was “asked her to resign.” The minister suddenly became unwelcome, despite her many years of education experience — and it left her feeling “bullied.”
“I feel bullied,” Ms. Barrett-Layne told The New York Times. “I believe that the city is being bullied. I feel as though my character, my name, my church have been defamed with lies and that everything was taken out of context.”
And it’s understandable why she feels this way. The absolute irony here is almost painful. Mr. Adams’ office is on the record saying his Florida billboard measure is an effort to “double down on NYC’s commitment to preserving the right to free speech.”
Yet Ms. Barrett-Layne was apparently canned for daring to “say and be whoever she wanted” — in this case, a Christian leader who chooses to hold to biblical values.
One doesn’t need to agree with Ms. Barrett-Layne on these issues to see the irony that, just days after she was forced to quit over past expressions of her sincerely held theological views, New York City officials began lecturing Floridians about freedom of speech and expression.
The entire ordeal defies logic and makes a mockery of the First Amendment ideals Mr. Adams is claiming to hold dear. The true measure — and evidence — of our free speech commitment is the level to which we’re willing to allow the speech with which we disagree.
“Freedom for me and none for thee” is a terrible way to govern.
• Billy Hallowell is a journalist, commentator and digital TV host who has covered thousands of faith and culture stories. He is the director of content and communications at Pure Flix, and previously served as the senior editor at Faithwire and the former faith and culture editor at TheBlaze.
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