Gov. DeSantis Signs Slate of Extreme Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills, Enacting a Record-Shattering Number of Discriminatory Measures Into Law - Human Rights Campaign
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
by HRC Staff • May 17, 2023
Florida is enacting a record six expressly anti-LGBTQ+ laws this year, more than the last seven years combined
Tallahassee, Florida - Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, condemns Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for signing a slate of anti-LGBTQ+ bills designed to scale back the freedoms of LGBTQ+ people and other vulnerable communities.
Florida is enacting a record six expressly anti-LGBTQ+ bills into law this year, more than the last seven years combined.
Today, Gov. DeSantis signed HB 1069, which silences educators by prohibiting any instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity from Pre-K through 8th grade, SB 254, an extreme gender affirming care ban, and HB 1521, an anti-trans bathroom bill.
Gov. DeSantis has also signed SB 266, which doubles down on his attacks on academic freedom, and SB 1580, a "License to Discriminate in Healthcare" bill that will allow healthcare providers and insurers to deny a patient care on the basis of religious, moral, or ethical beliefs.
A sixth bill, SB 170, which would discourage cities from passing non-discrimination ordinances by raising the barriers to proposing ordinances and making it easier to challenge ordinances in court, is still to be signed by DeSantis.
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Don't Say LGBTQ+ Expansion Bill (HB 1069): In an intentional effort to erase transgender and non-binary people from the curriculum, HB 1069 bans instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity from Pre-K through Grade 8, creates an anti-LGBTQ+ definition of sex based on reproductive function, and would force school staff and students to deadname and misgender one another. In April, Florida's Board of Education also voted to expand Gov. DeSantis's shameful "Don't Say LGBTQ+" bill from 2022 to all grades.
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Extreme Gender Affirming Care Ban (SB 254): Even among the crowded field of extreme and damaging bans on best practice, age-appropriate health care, this bill stands out as particularly mean-spirited. SB 254 would penalize providers by inflicting criminal penalties (including felony penalties) on providers who give gender-affirming care; it would take licenses away from those providers; and it would prohibit Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care for transgender youth or adults. It would also forbid public funds, including those of a public university, public hospital, city or county, and Medicaid, from being used to provide benefits that include gender-affirming care - for transgender people of all ages. And - uniquely - it allows the state to use gender-affirming care or the "risk" of such care for a child as a reason to give Florida family courts exceptional jurisdiction to set aside another state's custody determination. By singing this bill, DeSantis is disrespecting the United States Constitution as well as the rule of law, not to mention transgender Floridians, their families, and their medical care providers.
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Anti-Trans Bathroom Bill (HB 1521): HB 1521 criminalizes transgender people for using the restroom that matches their gender identity. The bill prohibits gender-inclusive restrooms and changing facilities in schools, public shelters, healthcare facilities, and jails.
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MAGA Takeover of Higher Ed Bill (SB 266): SB 266 doubles down on Gov. DeSantis's attacks on academic freedom. The bill would allow the state Board of Governors to give direction to universities on removing majors and minors in subjects like critical race theory and gender studies and would prohibit spending on programs or activities that support such curricula.
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License to Discriminate in Healthcare (SB 1580): This bill will allow healthcare providers and insurers to deny a patient care on the basis of religious, moral, or ethical beliefs. It creates a license to discriminate by allowing healthcare employers to discriminate in hiring, and it bars medical Boards from disciplining doctors for spreading misinformation.
In response, HRC President Kelley Robinson has released the following statement:
"Gov. Ron DeSantis and extremist legislators in Florida are some of the most anti-LGBTQ+ politicians in America. DeSantis has made clear that demonizing LGBTQ+ people will be the center of his legislative agenda and presidential run. As a result, the rights of millions of Floridians are being rolled back by politicians who are attacking the LGBTQ+ community at a breakneck pace to pander to the most extreme fringes of their base.
From doctors' offices to classrooms, they show no shame in assaulting the freedoms of those different from them. They are trying to whitewash history and use the power of the government to punish, erase, or attack anyone they disagree with, including Black and LGBTQ+ communities. They are denying transgender children and adults access to life-saving, best-practice medical care, contradicting guidelines recommended by every major medical association - representing over 1.3 million doctors in the United States.
The Human Rights Campaign will continue to fight to ensure all LGBTQ+ youth can access the healthcare they need, feel safe in school, and have access to an education that allows them to see themselves in their school's curriculum and society. The entire country should be alarmed by Gov. DeSantis's form of hateful politics. He is an existential threat to every LGBTQ+ person in Florida and beyond."
So far in 2023, HRC is opposing more than 520 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced in statehouses across the country. More than 220 of those bills would specifically restrict the rights of transgender people, the highest number of bills targeting transgender people in a single year to date. This year, HRC is tracking:
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More than 125 gender-affirming care bans — bills that would prevent transgender youth from being able to access age-appropriate, medically-necessary, best-practice health care; this year, 14 have already become law in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Dakota, Utah, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Dakota, Montana, and Oklahoma;
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More than 30 anti-transgender bathroom bills filed;
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More than 100 anti-LGBTQ+ curriculum censorship bills, and;
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45 anti-LGBTQ+ drag performance ban bills.
Americans believe the amount of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is excessive, agreeing it is "political theater." Likely voters across all political parties look at GOP efforts to flood state legislatures with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation as political theater. Recent polling indicates that 64% of all likely voters, including 72% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans think that there is "too much legislation" aimed at "limiting the rights of transgender and gay people in America" (Data For Progress survey of 1,220 likely voters, 3/24-26, 2023).
By comparison, last year in 2022 politicians in statehouses across the country introduced 315 anti-LGBTQ+ bills, 29 of which were enacted into law. These efforts — the result of a coordinated push led by national anti-LGBTQ+ groups, which deployed vintage discriminatory tropes seeking to slander, malign, and stigmatize LGBTQ+ people — only yielded a less than 10% success rate, as more than 90% of anti-LGBTQ+ bills were defeated. The majority of the discriminatory bills - 149 bills - targeted the transgender and non-binary community, with the majority targeting children. By the end of the 2022 state legislative season, a record 17 bills attacking transgender and non-binary children were enacted into law.
More than 300 major U.S. corporations have stood up and spoken out to oppose anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being proposed in states across the country. Major employers in tech, manufacturing, hospitality, health care, retail, and other sectors are joining with a unified voice to say discrimination is bad for business and to call on lawmakers to abandon these efforts. Four of the largest U.S. food companies also condemned "dangerous, discriminatory legislation that serves as an attack on LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly transgender and nonbinary people," and the Walton Family Foundation issued a statement expressing "alarm" at the trend of anti-transgender legislation that recently became law in Arkansas.
According to the latest data this year from PRRI, support for LGBTQ+ rights is on the rise in Florida and nationwide: 80% of Florida residents support nondiscrimination protections, and 66% of Florida residents oppose refusal of service on religious grounds. About eight in ten Americans (80%) favor laws that would protect LGBTQ+ people against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing. This reflects a dramatic increase in the proportion of Americans who support nondiscrimination protections since 2015, when it was 71%.
The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.
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Ugh! This is for MAGA and DeSantis denialist...
If they are deemed discriminatory, they will be overturned. Civil rights and all............
The are and they are. Look at front page...
Count stands at one..................point?
Wrong!
Two I stand corrected...............sort of
I think you're going to need a new system of quantifying credibility. I've never seen the SPLC use "deadname" and "misgender" in the same sentence. They're not nearly as batshit as these people. So if the SPLC is zero, we're going to need to break into negative numbers on this.
The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.
They already have full equality by law. But it's doubtful they will ever have universal acceptance.
Human beings are funny....they have all kinds of belief systems and ways of thinking, and who's to judge which ones are superior to another.
Yep!!
Not in our lifetimes.
No one but they try...................all of them
The article can't even get the title of the bills correct then you expect everybody to take it seriously? That's as much of a joke as the "tolerance and acceptance" we hear about from the left and the alphabet community.
The gay, lesbian, and bi community wasn't having much a problem, until the trans, queer , and pervert factions moved in and attempted to take over. Ron's reading the temperature of the room and the majority of Florida voters support him. So will voters in other states, and eventually, nationally. As always you exaggerate the effects of these laws.
Conservatives bash Seattle pride parade after men go full-frontal in front of children (msn.com)
George Takei complains that the Right wants to stifle LGBTQ+ people's need to expose themselves to kids – Twitchy
My world is big enough for all of them, what makes yours too small?
You are entitled to your sick perverted world. Just stay the hell out of the rest of ours!
You live in a weird world...where it seems to be OK for grown men to parade around naked in front of children, or have drag queens (or whatever) read stories to very minor children, or where it's OK to sexualize kids and confuse them about sexual preference or gender identity when they too young to understand what they're being indoctrinated with.
Gladly! I'll ask you no more questions
And throughout all of that my daughter and her friends remained 'blessed' hetero-gals ... go figure ... /S
LMAO aren't you from Michigan? Grand Rapids is very gay friendly perhaps you should move to Bum Fuck Idaho or Wingnut Wyoming.
Have to wonder what makes some people so afraid of gay people...
It's addictive ...
You mean Boebert's soon to be ex, or Matt Gaetz and his underage girls?
You're wrong about that. Look at the survey done by the PRRI or the number of Florida mayors that our major cities that are supporting their rights.
At least eight mayors from Orlando, Miami Beach, Tampa, Tallahassee and more have signed the pledge in support of the LGBTQ advocacy organization GLSEN and its Rise Up campaign, according to the group.
And what about the people. You know, John and Jane Doe Public. Mayors and city councils do all kind of stupid shit.
They speak for the people and once again the people have spoken, read the damn article on this.
Those laws are already on the damned books. And they include every damned citizen of the US FFS.
I'm thinking
Their chief complaint is that it doesn't SPECIFICLY identify the alphabet part. They are demanding special treatment.
BINGO!!!
Actually, you're not thinking, this is Florida and the laws at directed directly at the LBGQ community.
The surveys destroyed your attempted point.
Since when did state discrimination/non discrimination law override Federal?
Never said it did but the question remains why is DeSantis trying exactly that?
You implied it. And evidently he likes wasting time testing the waters.
Great that you think that you can read my mind and if he likes wasting time testing the waters it's getting very expensive for the Florida taxpayers. To date $17 million on legal cases and the clock is running. It's $1290 per hour on the Disney Case alone.
So that doesn't imply that somehow Florida can do what it wants no matter what? Ooooookay then
First, you stated that I implied it and now it's the state of Florida that implied it. I don't know what the state is implying but thus far they have been slapped down.
You implied it with your statement about "this is Florida"
No. Nothing like that fantasy you and others share.
Not so much after the SCOTUS added them as a protected class under the Civil Rights Law. Before that...?
First queer is a catch all term for the whole group these days. Second trans people never tried to take over. It's an asinine assumption since they are the smallest faction of the group. They are just the newest right wing boogie man in the outrage propaganda machine.
According to recent polls they really don't. Ronny's going to need a new thermometer since he just bombed in libertarian New Hampshire too.
Don't give the children any sexual ideas!
Many of DeSantis laws have run afoul of the courts/constitution and have been put on hold or overturned. These are the latest two.
My understanding is that almost all of the "anti-woke" laws are being overturned or on stay until the cases work through. As we've discussed multiple times, it seems like the MAGA populists don't understand how government works. Obviously we have to include DeSantis, who's been both a Senator and a Governor, in the doesn't understand category too. We have to conclude one of a couple of things - either they really think they can impose their will, against the Bill of Rights OR they know it won't fly, but do it to fleece the base voters who wouldn't otherwise vote.
BINGO
Which of these laws are unconstitutional? DeSantis is a lawyer with a large legal staff. I'm sure these common sense laws will pass muster.
Pretty much all of them run afoul of the 1st Amendment. One also shouldn't pass a "parental rights" law and then pass laws saying parents don't have rights.
Then he's a piss poor one, since he keeps getting kneecapped in court.
We don't govern on your feelings.
I'm not so sure about that.
I bet we'll find out, though.
Do you actually read any of the decisions or do you just blow smoke without thinking?
If DeSantis and his large legal staff knew what the hell they were doing they would not have been outmaneuvered by a Mouse and better yet the dumbasses violated their own law:
From the federal judge's decision:
That's the one that makes me giggle. How did they not see this coming?
You do realize that new laws replace old ones all the time, right?
When they do they spell that out in the language of the law.
You do realize that has to be spelled out in the proposed law, right? It wasn't.
Sometimes. Sometimes not. For example, the Affordable Care Act conflicted with a lot of already existing laws, and it took years to sort all that out.
It's supposed to be, but it doesn't always happen that way. Some of these laws are written by 25 year olds. They don't always know there is an existing law they're contradicting.
It definitely makes things messier, as you're seeing here.
The interesting question will be whether the primary reason for the ruling is the conflict with existing FL statute or if he feels it is a conflict with either the state or US Constitution.
Hey, Jack... Would you go back to the original text of the PPACA and show me where it conflicted? I'm sure you are right so you can quote those sections and I can learn something new.
The Florida Statutes are updated annually by laws that create, amend, transfer, or repeal statutory material. Legislative changes to the Florida Statutes effective up to and including January 1, 2023, are treated as current for publication of the 2022 Florida Statutes.
Surely someone in the legal staff knew.
Perhaps this will help you.
2000 challenges.......................
That's not what Jack was talking about.