More than halfway through the legislative session in Tallahassee, several bills impacting different sectors of the LGBTQ community have already advanced. The debate escalated in Florida’s capital and sparked reactions across the state and nation.
Those who support these proposals point out that they are meant to protect Florida’s children, those who oppose them say they are attacking an entire community for no reason.
The issue in the Florida Capitol was restroom access for transgender people, and the words of Deltona Republican Webster Barnaby were very strong on this.
“It’s like we have mutants living among us on planet Earth,” said Webster Barnaby, who also remarked during a committee meeting, “I call them demons and imps.”
A day later, the Senate approved a bill that prohibits minors from attending drag shows. Last week, he approved another law that bans hormone treatment for minors deemed transgender. And consider extending the ban on teaching homosexuality from kindergarten through third to eighth grade.
US Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz brought together a number of South Florida Democratic leaders on Wednesday to address what they call the very troubling Tallahassee laws.
“We are here to ask for solidarity from all communities for our LGBTQ brothers and women,” said Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, describing the proposals as part of a movement fueled by hatred and prejudice.
“What we are asking in Florida is to keep all of this away from children,” said an activist in favor of the measures.
Miami-Dade’s Jannelle Perez, married to a wife and mother of two, ran for Senate and lost, but continues to defend her position: “My family, they can get to the point where we can’t anymore. talk about the kind of family we are.”
And he says the transgender community is a tiny minority in Florida that doesn’t harm the rest of the population. “But the issues are that insurance is going to go up 60%, now more people are on the streets, I don’t want more men driving in the streets with guns.”
The House of Representatives has yet to vote on a drag show bill that would increase penalties not only to revoke the establishment’s liquor license, but also impose one-year prison terms. and $10,000 in fines to employees of said shows.