Florida’s GOP legislators are on the attack against the state’s LGBTQ+ population, but this time, it will impact government workers and contractors.
The proposed House Bill 599 (HB 599) — which is sponsored by political newcomer Rep. Ryan Chamberlin (R-Belleview) — if implemented would block state-funded entities from requiring employees to address trans or nonbinary colleagues by their preferred names or pronouns. This would include state government agencies, local government agencies, nonprofit organizations who receive funding from the state and government contractors. The bill would also “prohibit adverse personnel action on the basis of deeply held religious or biology-based beliefs.”
This is the next step in the GOP-majority Florida legislature’s policy tirade against the queer community. Just last year the state enacted the Parental Rights in Education Act, which was dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
The controversial policy prohibits educators from teaching about topics regarding sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms, and since Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law, other states have taken the same approach by passing their own version of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
The proposed expansion to the Parental Rights in Education Act would stop the requirements for training on gender identity and sexual orientation for government employees. It also states the following:
“It is the policy of the state that a person’s sex is an immutable biological trait and that it is false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to such person’s sex.”
According to reporting from Politico, some critics of HB 599 are claiming the bill is unconstitutional, including Florida’s first openly gay state senator Rep. Shevrin Jones (D-Miami Gardens).
“I would hope that this is not a part of their agenda moving into the next legislative session,” he told Politico. “It [the bill] is deaf and insensitive to the current climate in Florida.”
Carlos Guillermo Smith, who serves as the senior policy adviser at the LGBTQ+ rights organization Equality Florida, said to Politico that HB 599 doesn’t allow trans and nonbinary government and nonprofit employees to “live as their authentic selves at work,” even if they’ve undergone the processes to legally change their names.
“It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Florida Republicans are willing to use the power of government to retaliate against those who speak out against their extreme agenda — ask Disney,” Smith said.