Supporters and crics of the "Don't Say Gay" bill differ on whether would prevent the "stctn" or "discsn" of sexual orientatn or genr inty
Contents:
- HOE PASS SWEEPG GAY AND TRANSGENR EQUALY LEGISLATN
- HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
- ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL: FLORIDA SENATE PASS LAW MARGALIZG LGBTQ+ PEOPLE
- AFTER 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL PASSED, ANTI-LGBTQ 'GROOMG' RHETORIC SURGED 400% ONLE
HOE PASS SWEEPG GAY AND TRANSGENR EQUALY LEGISLATN
It was the send time the Democratic-led Hoe had passed the measure, known as the Equaly Act, which seeks to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add explic bans on discrimatn agast lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people both public and private spac. People n be discrimated agast bee of who they are, or who they love, ” said Reprentative David Cicille, an openly gay Democrat om Rho Island and the lead sponsor. Several Republins assailed the Equaly Act as dangero, leadg one top Democrat, Reprentative Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, to acce them of believg that gay and transgenr people “are morally ferr, and that firg should be permted.
HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
Maloney, the openly gay chairman of Hoe Democrats’ mpaign arm. ”In a landmark cisn June, the Supreme Court led that the 1964 civil rights law protects gay and transgenr people om workplace discrimatn, and that the language of the law, which prohibs discrimatn on the basis of sex, also appli to discrimatn based on sexual orientatn and genr inty.
Chamber of Gay Stolberg ntributed reportg. ”Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people often enunter prejudice hog, cred, jury service and public spac, as only 22 stat and the District of Columbia prohib discrimatn based on sexual orientatn and genr legislatur regularly advance laws that lim lol LGBTQ+ protectns. Jt as stat followed Florida’s bill that opponents labeled “Don’t Say Gay” — which rtricts -school discsns about sexual orientatn or genr inty — several joed Tennsee proposg bills that would ban drag performanc.
”On his first day office, Bin signed an executive orr directg feral agenci to implement the Supreme Court’s Bostock lg and to enforce any regulatns banng sex discrimatn on the basis of sexual orientatn and genr inty, as last October, Bin told Philalphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal that passg the Equaly Act would ensure “no future print n ever aga roll back civil rights and protectns for LGBTQ+ dividuals.
‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL: FLORIDA SENATE PASS LAW MARGALIZG LGBTQ+ PEOPLE
”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 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. ” 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.
AFTER 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL PASSED, ANTI-LGBTQ 'GROOMG' RHETORIC SURGED 400% ONLE
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. ” Conversely, opponents say would unfairly target the LGBTQ muny — particularly gay and trans stunts — and is “pretendg to solve a problem that don’t exist.
For starters, cricism that the “Don’t Say Gay” bill do not fact say “gay” anywhere s text is te. 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 ‘Don’t Say Gay’ moniker is a moniker about a certa polil amg of this suatn.
”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. The Republin-domated Florida legislature passed a bill on Tuday which would forbid stctn on sexual orientatn and genr inty krgarten through third gra, rejectg a wave of cricism om Democrats that margaliz LGBTQ+ proposal, which opponents have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, now mov to the sk of the Republin ernor, Ron DeSantis, who is expected to sign to s ceptn, the measure has drawn tense opposn om LGBTQ+ advot, stunts, Democrats, the Whe Hoe and the entertament dtry, amid creased attentn on Florida as Republins ph culture war legislatn and DeSantis ascends the GOP as a potential printial ndidate.