'Thunderdome of hate': Florida GOP lawmakers pass three anti-LGBTQ bills

19 April 2023

Florida Republican House members passed three pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation Wednesday, The Advocate reports.

Per The Advocate, the legislation "passed the same day that the state's board of education approved a measure expanding the state's 'don't say gay' law up until high school graduation."

Time Magazine reports experts shared last month why they oppose the passing of the bills, which according to The Advocate, "could prohibit gender-affirming care for children, punish businesses letting minors watch drag shows, and treat transgender people peeing in the wrong bathroom as criminals."

Kirk Bailey, political director at the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) of Florida noted the bills are part of a "'concerted effort' to 'remove LGBTQ+ people from public life,'" adding, "[This bill] would silence students from speaking about their LGBTQ+ family members, friends, neighbors, and icons. It would also bar LGBTQ+ students from talking about their own lives and would deny their very existence."

State Republican Rep. Randy Fine said, "We heard that this bill is about the right to decide what is appropriate for your child. I got news for parents. You don't have that right today. You can't decide to not send your kid to school. You can't decide to starve them. You can't send your kid to an NC-17 movie, for all those folks who said there's no standards in the movie business. There's all kinds of decisions. There's all sorts of guardrails that the government has put in."

Fine backed one of the bills, which "targets venues that admit minors into shows deemed as live adult entertainment," and "would expand limits on shows that include prosthetic breasts or sex organs or which have sexually suggestive material."

Advocate reports:

The House also passed a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, in an 82-31 vote. The prohibition included the use of treatments like puberty blockers as well as surgery. The Senate has moved forward on that as well, but the chambers do have significant differences in bills right now. The most significant is that House members don’t want to allow care to continue for minors even if they have already started medically transitioning. The Senate legislation would stop new treatments for minors but allow those who already have received care to continue with treatments. The House also wants to ban private insurers from reimbursing gender-affirming care, even for adults.

As a result of lawmakers who share Fine's view, Time reports:

Many fear for the health and wellbeing of queer families and children if they feel that they are unwelcome in schools. A survey conducted by Morning Consult in 2021 found that 85% of transgender and nonbinary youth have seen their mental health decline amid debates around anti-trans bills.

"I just don't understand when drag queens became enemy number one," House Democratic Caucus leader, Rep. Fentrice Driskell, said.

Florida Rep. Michele Rayner-Goolsby, who is gay, and "the only lesbian in the Florida Legislature," according to The Advocate, called the stack of bills "a Thunderdome of Hate."

Rayner-Goolsby added, "I'm sorry for the adults that work in this building and cannot use the bathroom, or no longer feel that they can use the bathroom. I'm sorry. And for those who may have been triggered by what I just said, I said what I said because at the end of the day, we in this House are called to respect all Floridians. And this bill does not do that."

The Advocate's full report is available at this link. Time's report is here (subscription required).

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