What Florida's 'Don’t Say Gay' bill actually says

Contents:

• AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?
• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'
• LEGIMACY OF ‘CTOMER’ SUPREME COURT GAY RIGHTS SE RAIS ETHIL AND LEGAL FLAGS
• LGBTQ GROUPS SUE FLORIDA OVER THE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW

AFTER YEARS OF PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, HOW DID THE US BEE SO ANTI-LGBTQ+?

”As the number of anti-LGBTQ bills hs rerd highs, rearch shows that so, too, has support for LGBTQ rights and polici prohibg discrimatn agast lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people.

The Rpect for Marriage Act, as is lled, won Senate approval last legislatn won the support of LGBT advot as well as a number of relig anizatns and enti cludg the Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats, though many Amerin relig nservativ still oppose gay marriage as unter to biblil is narrowly wrten to act as a limed backstop for the 2015 Supreme Court cisn that legalized same-sex marriage natnwi, known as Obergefell v. The most famo is Florida’s HB 1557/SB 1834, llectively known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. ” Consirg the ongog natnwi nservative mpaign agast nocuo books like Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir, Genr Queer, ’s safe to say that this bill would effectively ban any discsn of LGBTQ+ sexualy public “parental rights” bills, such as South Carola’s H455, would also force schools to velop procr to rm parents about school clubs, which likely targets LGBTQ+ clubs such as Gay Straight Allianc.

HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO

” Arizona’s is a ltle ls explicly homophobic/transphobic, only specifyg that would ban “sexually explic material, ” but is more broad-rangg, applyg not jt to public school librari but public schools as a ’s also worth notg that the proposed bills go hand hand wh the nservative effort to ban “cril race theory” om classrooms; Freedom for All Amerins is trackg those bills right alongsi the anti-trans tn least 20 stat have troduced such bills th far 2022. ” That be emently clear upon lookg at the text of a bill like Iowa’s HF 170, filed last month, which expands the fn of “scerely held relig beliefs and moral nvictns” to clu opposn to gay marriage, that “male” and “female” refer to “distct and immutable blogil sex, ” and that “unborn children'' should have rights.

They clud Judh Kasen-Wdsor, widow of gay rights activist Edie Wdsor; Matthew Hayn, -owner of Club Q, the LGBTQ club Colorado Sprgs where a gunman last month killed five people a mass shootg; Club Q shootg survivors Jam Slgh and Michael Anrson; and a number of platiffs om s that culmated the landmark civil rights se Obergefell vs. Philanthropist and Democratic donor David Boht, who has been an outspoken gay- and transgenr-rights activist and longtime supporter of Bin, told CNN that Tuday’s bill signg uld not e at a more ccial moment.

FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'

“[Bin] has monstrated his support for s for lbian and gay civil rights, and Tuday’s signg to law is a reaffirmatn of that durg this time when rights are unr asslt, ” Boht said. In 2019, the Atlantic ran an opn piece tled “The stggle for gay rights is over”.

The mise of the homophobic Defense of Marriage Act 2013 was followed by the end of the feral ban on marriage equaly 2015. Wispread acceptance of same-sex marriage rights, gay people servg the ary and the need for protectns for LGBTQ+ people followed.

As recently as 2020, the urt, then wh two Tmp appote, led that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protected gay, lbian and transgenr workers. In 1985, 89% of parents said they would be sad if they disvered their child was gay or a lbian.

LEGIMACY OF ‘CTOMER’ SUPREME COURT GAY RIGHTS SE RAIS ETHIL AND LEGAL FLAGS

A rash of laws ncerng the teachg of human sexualy school curricula, banng trans stunt athlet and strippg parents of the right to help their genr-variant children obta appropriate re have popped up numero red stat this same-sex marriage is now part of the fabric of Ameri, nservativ have chosen to explo Amerins’ unfaiary wh trans people and piggyback on parental anger over the perceived overreach of Covid-era school closur, nflatg wh an sid sense of “wokens”, the hop of fdg an electorally viable sluiceway for anti-LGBTQ+ most famo of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws is the piece of Florida legislatn banng stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools between krgarten and third gra, the so-lled “don’t say gay” law. Supporters of Florida’s ‘don’t say gay’ bill gather outsi Walt Disney World this month.

LGBTQ GROUPS SUE FLORIDA OVER THE SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW

The ernor and his supporters have labeled as a “groomer” anyone who believ children n learn LGBTQ+ people exist, argug that simply by talkg about gay relatnships to a child, you are sexualizg that child. ”To be gay, their view, is to be herently sexualized, a threat to nocence a way that straight Amerins are vehemence has ught even veteran LGBTQ+ advot by surprise. He was followed by Arizona’s ernor, Doug Ducey, who, after barrg mors om genr-affirmatn treatment, wouldn’t even state for the rerd that trans people were Florida lawmaker Michele Rayner-Goolsby, left, hugs her wife, Bian Goolsby, durg a march at cy hall St Petersburg agast the ‘don’t say gay’ bill.

Photograph: Bob Daemmrich/Zuma Wire/Rex/ShutterstockPolicians are supported the media by mentators like Tucker Carlson, who claimed “no one had heard of this trans thg four years ago”, or Charlie Kirk, channelg 1980s fears sayg “gays want to rpt your children” rejuvenated, the right wg is poised to make transphobia and homophobia rnerston of the midterms and 2024 electns, wh promis to liver “don’t say gay” legislatn stat cludg Michigan and New Perks, the print of the Fay Rearch Council, a nservative lobbyg group, veighed agast the ernors of Indiana and Utah for vetog legislatn banng trans women om participatg sports, llg the bills “timely, mastream protectns”. The Republin US reprentative Marjorie Taylor Greene vowed to troduce a feral “don’t say gay” bill if Republins w the Hoe this November, only to one-up herself days later by tweetg that for people to be pro-trans is to be pro-pedophilia.

”The bs-iendly wg of the GOP that would quietly team up wh Democrats to scuttle rabidly homophobic bills is now outnumbered, and legislators a dozen or more stat that lean even farther to the right than DeSantis are takg, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights legal director, believ Florida is the tt se for a renewed ph for an aggrsive, Christian-natnalist program. ”The “don’t say gay” bill, Mter not, is very siar to what’s been passed Rsia, tetherg Amerin nservativ to their thorarian unterparts who have succsfully rolled back mocratic norms across eastern Europe.