'LGBT is not a permanent thing': Florida Republican gives a masterclass in bigotry

Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia (R) expressed her support for a so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill on Tuesday by arguing that "LGBT is not a permanent thing."

During a 15-minute speech on the Senate floor, Garcia argued in favor of a bill that would prevent teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity with younger students.

"Gay is not a permanent thing, LGBT is not a permanent thing," Garcia began. "This isn't about targeting. This is perhaps about rerouting the responsibilities back to the parents."

The lawmaker insisted that her friends and family are "all LGBT but I don't pander on that."

Garcia then seemed shocked as she told the story of one transgender woman who prefers to date women.

"A friend of mine went through the whole transition as an older man, 58-years-old, became a woman and guess what?" she said. "He still likes women! He went through the whole process and we'd laugh together and I'd say, why do you want to deal with the hormones? Why do you want to worry about the extensions and the hair and boobs and the nails and he loved it."

"So he had a sexual experience," she added. "And he realized that he continued to like women."

Garcia also shared false "statistics" about gender-affirming surgery, which has been shown to reduce suicidal ideation.

"You know, a lot of people don't know that I think that the statistics are that 4 out of 7 people who do the full transition end up committing suicide because it's tough," she claimed.

Watch the video below.

Florida GOP state Sen. Ileana Garcia claims LGBT 'not permanent'youtu.be