New FL 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Targets LGBTQ+ Nonprofits, Critics Say

Politics & Government

New FL 'Don't Say Gay' Bill Targets LGBTQ+ Nonprofits, Critics Say The new bill would prevent some agencies from requiring workers to use a person's preferred pronouns and restrict training on LGBTQ issues.

Critics are slamming a new bill that would expand Florida's controversial Parental Rights in Education Act by placing additional restrictions on government agencies, claiming the bill unfairly targets LGBTQ+ nonprofits, according to a report. (Shutterstock)

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Critics are slamming a new bill that would expand Florida's controversial Parental Rights in Education Act by placing additional restrictions on government agencies, claiming the bill unfairly targets LGBTQ+ nonprofits, according to a report.

The bill — or HB 599 — was filed last week by Rep. Ryan Chamberlin, a Republican from Belleview. If passed, the bill would prevent state and local government agencies from requiring employees to use a person's preferred pronouns. It would also restrict workplace training on issues involving gender identity and sexual orientation.

The bill would also prevent agencies from disciplining employees who refuse to use a person's preferred pronouns.

"It is an unlawful employment practice for an employer to take adverse personnel action against an employee or a contractor because of the employee's or contractor's deeply held religious or biology-based beliefs, including a belief in traditional or Biblical views of sexuality and marriage, or the employee's or contractor's disagreement with gender ideology, whether those views are expressed by the employee or contractor at or away from the worksite," the bill says.

If the bill is enacted, it would mark a major expansion of the Parental Rights in Education Act — dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by critics — which prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in all grades.

The sweeping bill also included a measure prohibiting school staff and students from referring to people by pronouns that don't correspond to the person's sex at birth.

So far, a companion bill has not been introduced in the Senate.

In an interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel , Gregory Koger, a professor of political science at the University of Miami, said the original justification behind the bill does apply to the bill filed last week.

“This isn’t about schools. This isn’t about children," Kroger told the newspaper. "This is about how every Florida person is supposed to speak to every other Florida person in the so-called free state of Florida."

Todd Delmay, executive director of the Miami-based group SAVE, told the Sun-Sentinel the bill would be "devastating to organizations like ours."

"It could make very difficult the work we have done for 30 years protecting, promoting and defending equality for LGBTQ+ people in Florida," Delmay said. "But that’s the point. ... It is primarily meant to sow division and fear."

Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from Orlando, blasted the proposal last week, calling it unconstitutional and claiming it targeted advocacy groups like Equality Florida.

"Florida Republicans just filed legislation that would essentially ban gender pronouns in PRIVATE businesses and prohibit trainings about pronouns in nonprofits too," Eskamani wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Would basically ban from existing."

In an email to the Sun-Sentinel, Chamberlin said the legislation was needed "to protect Florida’s non-profit workers."

"The bill focuses on taxpayer-funded organizations and businesses to prevent them from forcing (requiring) employees to participate in gender sensitivity or pronoun training and conduct that is married to a penalty for non-participation,” Chamberlin said. “If an employee recognizes a person by their birth gender or does not want to participate in gender sensitivity training, they should not be reprimanded or fired."

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