Left-Wing Activists Try To Take Away 700 Scholarships from Children

Two Florida Democratic social justice bullies wanted to ruin a scholarship programs for Florida children because some of the schools that get the money are Christian.

State Reps. Anna V. Eskamani and Carlos Guillermo Smith led the charge to get banks to discontinue donating to the program. It worked for a time as the Cincinnati based Fifth Third Bank announced on Twitter that it would stop donating to the work.

“We have communicated with program officials that we will not be contributing again until more inclusive policies have been adopted by all participating schools to protect the sexual orientation of all our students,” the bank wrote in a Twitter post to Smith.

But it has since changed its mind.

Rep. Carlos G Smith
✔@CarlosGSmith

 · Jan 28, 2020

"Companies have the same choice in front of them. People are watching to see what they do. Or what they don’t do."

That means YOU @FifthThird bank. Marching in @OrlandoPride while also funding anti-LGBTQ schools is NOT okay! https://twitter.com/mlafferty1/status/1222197476582739971 …

Mike Lafferty@mlafferty1

Our editorial looks at how companies say they support gay rights while at the same time using their tax dollars to support discrimination at private schools. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/editorials/os-op-anti-gay-discrimination-private-schools-taxes-companies-20200128-pasgcpncfbduffej26e35par2u-story.html …

Fifth Third Bank
✔@FifthThird

(Part 1) Thanks Rep. Smith for your feedback. We definitely stand with #LGBTQ students and parents. We have communicated with program officials that we will not be contributing again ...

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3:54 AM - Jan 29, 2020

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The decision to suspend donating to the vouchers came after the Orlando Sentinel published a Jan. 23 hit piece on the program and the Christian schools.

“Florida’s scholarship programs, often referred to as school vouchers, sent more than $129 million to these religious institutions,” the Sentinel reported.

“That means at least 14 percent of Florida’s nearly 147,000 scholarship students last year attended private schools where homosexuality was condemned or, at a minimum, unwelcome,” the article stated.

That story, and the pressure from the two Democrats, was enough for the bank to capitulate to the social justice mob.

But after the Florida African American Ministers Alliance for Parental Choice held a rally in the state Capitol, with about 100 black and Hispanic parents and clergy attending to fight back against Fifth Third’s decision, the bank changed its stance and said it will continue funding the vouchers, The Floridian reported.

“The tax credit scholarship program provides educational opportunities to more than 100,000 low-income families in Florida,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a statement, The Floridian reported.

“I support these families and am glad to see Fifth Third continue to do so as well. Thanks for empowering parents and students.”

Even some Democrats went against their colleagues, citing concerns for the affected schools if the scholarships ended.

“I don’t think that [it] would be in the best interest of minority kids,” Rep. James Bush III said, according to The Floridan. “We have children that need these opportunities. When there are opportunities for parents to make choices in school that they feel will address their specific need, then I feel we should afford them that opportunity.”

But Wells Fargo, based in San Francisco, has not changed its stance after it announced that it would no longer contribute to the fund.

“We have reviewed this matter carefully and have decided to no longer support Step Up for Students,” the bank said in a statement, according to NBC News.

“All of us at Wells Fargo highly value diversity and inclusion, and we oppose discrimination of any kind,” it said.

The continuing discrimination against Christians by the left is ridiculous. To want to take educational opportunities from kids because of your beliefs is precisely the type of government interference our Founders did not want.

But more to the point, the real goal of the left is to force Christian institutions to change their teachings to conform to the left’s idea of “social justice.”

The Word of God never changes, people do. And no matter how much liberals want to twist and turn His word to fit their mission — like Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg likes to do — it will remain the same.

Thank God these Christian pastors stood their ground to fight for His teachings. It proves that we can fight back and, if we stand together, we will win.