AKA William

Florida’s full of snakes these days. I’m not talking about the pythons that invaded the Everglades, although they’re pretty scary. No, I’m talking about political snakes, the kind who sneak “morality” into the oddest of places, like state Sen. Stephen Precourt’s hopes to do with tax incentives for the film industry. He wants to make sure productions about gays don’t get a break. Considering that out director Lee Daniels receiving an Oscar nomination for Precious and Sandra Bullock giving gays a shout out during her acceptance speech last night, Precourt’s mission seems hopeless. Not to mention laughable.

Precourt has been pushing for an increase in tax credits for “family friendly” film productions made in the Sunshine state. The current law gives a 2% tax incentive. The new version, part of a $75 million bill that has been supported by 25 state Representatives, hikes that credit up to 5%. It also alters the language a bit. Today’s law describes “family friendly” films as having “cross-generational appeal,” demonstrate “responsible resolution of issues,” and void of sex, drunkenness, nudity and naughty words. Precourt also wants to expand the law’s language to explicitly exclude productions that have “nontraditional family values.” Neither he nor the law defines what exactly that means, but Precourt’s has his own interpretation, one that doesn’t include the gays. It would also require a time machine.

Most of the politicians who’ve supported the bill agree that the language is far too vague. Jennifer Carroll, the Republican Chairwoman of Florida’s House Economic Development Policy Committee and the bill’s co-sponsor, raised her own concerns, “What someone could see as a traditional family value could be different for another person…We’ll have to delve into that.” But Precourt remains crystal clear when describing “nontraditional family values.”

Asked by Floridian journalist Michael C. Bender whether productions with gay couples would qualify for the incentive, Precourt replied,  “That would not be the kind of thing I’d say that we want to invest public dollars in.” Precourt elaborated on the type of world he envisions. “Think of it as like Mayberry,” says Precourt. For those of you who don’t recall, Mayberry is the fictional town from The Andy Griffith Show, a town that had one traffic light and only a handful of black people. “That’s when I grew up — the ’60s. That’s what life was like. I want Florida to be known for making those kinds of movies: Disney movies for kids and all that stuff. Like it used to be, you know?” No, sir, I don’t know. The world’s a far different place than when Walt first started his company in 1927, and when he set up Disneyland in 1954. Florida’s Disney World came much later, in 1971, well after the civil rights movement got underway. For this Mayberry-esque place to exist, we would have to do away with decades of legislative and social struggle, hurdling society back to the days when Catholic lawmakers like Precourt were something of a scandal.

Though most lawmakers are trying to stay away from the issue, Gov. Charlie Crist jumped readily into the ring, “Let me define it in the positive… A traditional family is a marriage between a man and a woman. That’s traditional.” Crist’s eagerness to join is most likely born from the fact that he’s battling socially conservative Marco Rubio in the Senatorial primary and needs to cultivate a right-wing base.  Another Republican Bob McCullom, who wants to take Crist’s seat as Governor, quite wisely stayed away from the debate, which he called a “word game.” From Precourt’s telling, however, it’s more than just a game: it’s a quixotic, perhaps even delusional, crusade to turn back time. Production companies, including Disney-owned ABC, whose “family” channel airs the extremely gay friendly college drama Greek, want to accurately reflect reality. And the reality is that we’re queer, we’re here and we’re going to be further incorporated into film and television. By excluding companies who work for inclusion, Precourt’s simply shooting himself in the foot, because those who stand against him will eventually outnumber those who agree with his archaic visions.