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

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS
• HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY
• LEGIMACY OF ‘CTOMER’ SUPREME COURT GAY RIGHTS SE RAIS ETHIL AND LEGAL FLAGS
• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY?
• THE GAY/TRANS PANIC DEFENSE: WHAT IT IS, AND HOW TO END IT
• SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?
• AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

GAY RIGHTS

Army service World War I, Gerber was spired to create his anizatn by the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee, a “homosexual emancipatn” group ’s small group published a few issu of s newsletter “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter. Ernment signated Gerber’s Chigo hoe a Natnal Historic Pk TriangleCorbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, gay rights movement stagnated for the next few s, though LGBT dividuals around the world did e to the spotlight a few example, English poet and thor Radclyffe Hall stirred up ntroversy 1928 when she published her lbian-themed novel, The Well of Lonels. Addnally, 1948, his book Sexual Behavr the Human Male, Aled Ksey proposed that male sexual orientatn li on a ntuum between exclively homosexual to exclively Homophile Years In 1950, Harry Hay found the Mattache Foundatn, one of the natn’s first gay rights group.

”Though started off small, the foundatn, which sought to improve the liv of gay men through discsn groups and related activi, expand after foundg member Dale Jenngs was arrted 1952 for solicatn and then later set ee due to a adlocked the end of the year, Jenngs formed another anizatn lled One, Inc., which weled women and published ONE, the untry’s first pro-gay magaze.

HOMOSEXUALY: THE UNTRI WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY

Post Office, which 1954 clared the magaze “obscene” and refed to liver Mattache Society Mattache Foundatn members rtctured the anizatn to form the Mattache Society, which had lol chapters other parts of the untry and 1955 began publishg the untry’s send gay publitn, The Mattache Review. That same year, four lbian upl San Francis found an anizatn lled the Dghters of Bilis, which soon began publishg a newsletter lled The Ladr, the first lbian publitn of any early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr followg year, Print Dwight D.

”In fear of beg shut down by thori, bartenrs would ny drks to patrons spected of beg gay or kick them out altogether; others would serve them drks but force them to s facg away om other ctomers to prevent them om 1966, members of the Mattache Society New York Cy staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue. They were nied service at the Greenwich Village tavern Juli, rultg much publicy and the quick reversal of the anti-gay liquor Stonewall Inn A few years later, 1969, a now-famo event talyzed the gay rights movement: The Stonewall clanste gay club Stonewall Inn was an stutn Greenwich Village bee was large, cheap, allowed dancg and weled drag queens and homels the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn.

" This sign was wrten by the Mattache Society–an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay reportg the events, The New York Daily News rorted to homophobic slurs s tailed verage, nng the headle: “Homo Nt Raid, Queen Be Are Stgg Mad. 1 / 12: NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagChristopher Street Liberatn Day Shortly after the Stonewall uprisg, members of the Mattache Society spl off to form the Gay Liberatn Front, a radil group that lnched public monstratns, protts and nontatns wh polil officials. Siar groups followed, cludg the Gay Activists Alliance, Radilbians, and Street Transvt Actn Revolutnari (STAR) 1970, at the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, New York Cy muny members marched through lol streets memoratn of the event.

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

Addnally, several openly LGBTQ dividuals secured public office posns: Kathy Kozachenko won a seat to the Ann Harbor, Michigan, Cy Council 1974, beg the first out Amerin to be elected to public Milk, who mpaigned on a pro-gay rights platform, beme the San Francis cy supervisor 1978, beg the first openly gay man elected to a polil office asked Gilbert Baker, an artist and gay rights activist, to create an emblem that reprents the movement and would be seen as a symbol of pri.

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

In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn published a report about five prevly healthy homosexual men beg fected wh a rare type of 1984, rearchers had intified the e of AIDS—the human immunoficiency vis, or HIV—and the Food and Dg Admistratn licensed the first mercial blood tt for HIV 1985. But after failg to garner enough support for such an open policy, Print Clton 1993 passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, which allowed gay men and women to serve the ary as long as they kept their sexualy a rights advot cried the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, as did ltle to stop people om beg discharged on the grounds of their 2011, Print Obama fulfilled a mpaign promise to repeal DADT; by that time, more than 12, 000 officers had been discharged om the ary unr DADT for refg to hi their sexualy.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was officially repealed on September 20, Marriage and Beyond In 1992, the District of Columbia passed a law that allowed gay and lbian upl to register as domtic partners, grantg them some of the rights of marriage (the cy of San Francis passed a siar ordance three years prr and California would later extend those rights to the entire state 1999) 1993, the hight urt  Hawaii led that a ban on gay marriage may go agast the state’s nstutn. In 1994, a new anti-hate-crime law allowed judg to impose harsher sentenc if a crime was motivated by a victim’s sexual Matthew Shepard ActCourty of the Matthew Shepard FoundatnMatthew Shepard, who was btally killed a hate crime 2003, gay rights proponents had another b of happy news: the U.

WHERE IS ILLEGAL TO BE GAY?

Gay rights proponents mt also ntent wh an creasg number of “relig liberty” state laws, which allow bs to ny service to LGBTQ dividuals due to relig beliefs, as well as “bathroom laws” that prevent transgenr dividuals om g public bathrooms that don’t rrpond to their sex at birth.

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Kamala Harris has been a vol supporter of LGBTQ rightsUS Vice-Print Kamala Harris who is on a tour of three Ain untri - Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia - has drawn cricism over her support for LGBTQ Ghana, a speech llg for "all people be treated equally" she appeared to cricise a bill before the untry's parliament which crimalis advocy for gay rights and propos jail terms for those that intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, or untry's Speaker Alban Bagb later lled her remarks "unmocratic" and urged lawmakers not to be "timidated by any person" Tanzania, a former mister spoke agast US support for LGBTQ rights ahead of the vis and Zambia some opposn policians have threatened to hold is homosexualy still outlawed? In the same month, the high urt Barbados stck out laws that crimalised gay July last year, the urts Antigua and Barbuda clared a law crimalisg same-sex acts between nsentg adults Febary 2021, Angola's Print Joao Louren signed to law a revised penal to allow same-sex relatnships and ban discrimatn on the basis of sexual 2020, Gabon reversed a law that had crimalised homosexualy and ma gay sex punishable wh six months prison and a large fe. Mozambique and the Seychell have also scrapped anti-homosexualy laws recent there are untri where existg laws outlawg homosexualy have been tightened, cludg Nigeria and 's parliament recently passed a law to crack down on homosexual activi, promptg wispread source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Campaign agast LGBTQ rights some Ain untri has tensified recent weeksAnd some untri, efforts to get the laws removed have May 2019, the high urt Kenya upheld laws crimalisg homosexual acts.

Although the origal Brish laws applied only to men, untri that crimalise homosexualy today also have penalti for women who have sex wh Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (Ilga) monors the progrs of laws relatg to homosexualy around the says the ath penalty is the legally prcribed punishment for same-sex sexual acts Bnei, Iran, Mrania, Sdi Arabia, Yemen and some northern stat of five untri - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, and the Uned Arab Emirat - there is no legal clary and the ath penalty uld be source, AFPImage ptn, An Indian gay rights activist protts agast a urt lg 2013 upholdg a law which crimalis gay repealed the ath penalty for nsensual same-sex sexual acts observers note that the risk of prosecutn some plac is mimal. But Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn act — which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — has sudnly sparked a natnal war of recent weeks, lears of global rporatns, edorial boards of major newspapers and Hollywood actors have all weighed on the proposed legislatn, wh some llg “eply disturbg” and others “nonntroversial. The bill, which passed Florida’s Senate last week and the state’s Hoe of Reprentativ Febary, do, however, nta the terms “sexual orientatn” and “genr inty, ” each legal experts say that whether the bill prohibs the word “gay” self is a “distractn.

THE GAY/TRANS PANIC DEFENSE: WHAT IT IS, AND HOW TO END IT

”Beyond brandg, a re argument over the bill centers around whether would prohib the “stctn” or “discsn” of sexual bill’s sponsors have emphatilly stated that the bill would not prohib stunts om talkg about their LGBTQ fai or bar classroom discsns about LGBTQ history, cludg events like the 2016 adly attack on the Pulse nightclub, a gay club Orlando. In the adlit mass shootg to occur the Uned Stat and the worst terror attack USA sce 9/11, 49 people were shot ad Sunday morng around 2 am at the gay nightclub Pulse Orlando, there’s somethg we n learn om the Orlando shootg at Pulse nightclub, ’s that life for the LGBTQ muny is far om many parts of the world, life as a member of the LGBTQ muny n be dangero and even life-threateng.

The maximum penalty award for homosexulay Gambia is life Mrania, Mlim men who have sex wh men n be stoned to ath, while women n face prison Nigeria, the penalty for homosexualy is up to 14 years prison, but some Nigerian stat ath penalti n be award to gay men while gay women n be whipped or imprisoned. "I would die of grief if my dghter was gog out wh a girl" - Iran's LGBT stggl ? — BBC World Service (@bbcworldservice) June 14, 2016Yemen also follows Shari’a law, and punishments for homosexualy range om floggg to executn, even for homosexual acts between nsentg homosexualy is illegal Qatar, the penalty for non- Mlims is 7 years prison; the penalty for Mlims, however, n be penalty for same-sex unns Sdi Arabia range om several months prison to a life sentence, whippg, floggg, f, torture, and executn on the first nvictn.

In five untri and parts of two others, homosexualy is still punishable wh the ath penalty, while a further 70 imprison cizens bee of their sexual where homosexualy is legal, many untri treat those same-sex relatnships differently, such as havg an unequal age of nsent or a ban on marriage. Image source, CQ-Roll Call Inc via Getty ImagThe top urt the US has led that employers who fire workers for beg gay or transgenr are breakg the untry's civil rights a 6-3 cisn, the Supreme Court said feral law, which prohibs discrimatn based on sex, should be unrstood to clu sexual orientatn and genr lg is a major w for LGBT workers and their even though the urt has bee more nservative.

SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL?

'An emotnal day'Sean K Hl, Palm Sprgs, CaliforniaToday's Supreme Court lg brought me to a gay man lucky enough to live California and origally e om New York I've never had to personally worry about losg a job or not beg hired simply bee of my sexual orientatn.

It's difficult to overstate the signifince of the the urt is tablishg a long history of cisns expandg gay rights, this is the first time spoke directly about the legal protectns for transgenr the lg out jt days after the Tmp admistratn announced was removg transgenr health-surance protectns only puts the issue stark relief. "The only qutn before is whether an employer who fir someone for beg homosexual or transgenr has discharged or otherwise discrimated agast that dividual 'bee of such dividual's sex', " he answer, he said, was "clear" - even if such a scenar had not been anticipated when the law was wrten. Media ptn, A taxi service tryg to keep trans people safeDonald Zarda, a skydivg stctor om New York who died a skydivg accint 2014, had filed one of the other was dismissed after jokg wh a female client wh whom he was tanm-divg not to worry about the close physil ntact bee he was "100% gay".

AS FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' LAW TAK EFFECT, SCHOOLS ROLL OUT LGBTQ RTRICTNS

The pany mataed he was fired bee he shared personal rmatn wh a client, not bee he was gay, but a urt New York led Mr Zarda's Bostock, a former child welfare servic -ordator om Geia, lost his job after jog a gay recreatnal softball league, thereby publicly revealg his sexual orientatn.

Mr Bostock lost his discrimatn se a feral urt key moments US LGBT history Jan 1958 - US Supreme Court l for first time favour of LGBT rights, sayg an LGBT magaze, emed obscene by the FBI and postal service, had First Amendment rightsJuly 1961 - Illois be first state to crimalise homosexualyJune 1969 - Protts beg after police raid Stonewall Inn New York Cy, now seen as start of gay rights movementSept 1996 - Print Clton f marriage as unn between "one man and one woman"June 2003 - US Supreme Court term sodomy laws to be unnstutnalOct 2009 - Democratic Print Obama signs Matthew Shepard and Jam Byrd Jr Hate Crim Law, expandg hate crime laws to clu sexual orientatnJune 2015 - US Supreme Court l 5-4 that same-sex marriage is legal across the untryJune 2016 - The Pentagon lifts s ban on transgenr Amerins serve the aryMarch 2018 - Republin Print Tmp issu a policy banng transgenr Amerins om servg aryMore on this story. In many other stat, cludg Alabama, Florida, Geia, Mississippi, North Carola, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Virgia and Washgton, ernment agenci and urts treated sodomy laws that, as wrten, applied to all upl, straight and gay, as if they were aimed at gay people. Over the urse of lbian, gay, or bisexual people's lifetim, one five will experience hate crim, and one four transgenr people will as dividuals at the tersectn of homophobia, transphobia, and racism, face worse statistics.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

On July 25, 2014 Miami-Da County Circu Court Judge Sarah Zabel led Florida’s gay marriage ban unnstutnal and stated that the ban “serv only to hurt, to discrimate, to prive same-sex upl and their fai of equal digny, to label and treat them as send-class cizens, and to em them unworthy of participatn one of the fundamental stutns of our society. The Amerin Psychologil Associatn, Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, and others nclud that legal gay marriage giv upl “accs to the social support that already facilat and strengthens heterosexual marriag, wh all of the psychologil and physil health benefs associated wh that support.

In 2012, the Williams Instute at the Universy of California at Los Angel (UCLA) found that the first five years after Massachetts legalized gay marriage 2004, same-sex weddg expendur (such as venue rental, weddg k, etc. 2016 printial ndidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fra stated that civil unns are aquate as an equivalent to marriage: “Benefs are beg btowed to gay upl [ civil unns]… I believe we need to rpect those who believe that the word marriage has a spirual foundatn… Why n’t we rpect and tolerate that while at the same time sayg ernment nnot btow benefs unequally.