Florida Bill Encourages Misgendering in the Workplace

The Florida Senate has advanced Senate Bill 440 (SB 440) which would stop employers from being required to use a person’s preferred pronouns in the workplace. SB 440 initially died after having pushback from the public. Activists are calling it the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans At Work” bill, after the “Don’t Say Gay” bill from 2022 that banned teaching LGBTQ+ topics in schools. After more than 1000 public comment cards were submitted, the Committee declined to hear the bill. But one week after Equality Florida, an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, held a press conference celebrating its tabling, Florida Senators in the Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee voted 5-2 in favor of the bill. It will now go to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would prohibit employers from requiring their employees to respect people’s pronouns. It refers to itself as the “Freedom of Conscience in the Workplace Act,” and If passed it would make it unlawful to punish employees for, “a belief in traditional or Biblical views of sexuality and marriage, or the employee’s or contractor’s disagreement with gender ideology.” Florida Senator Randy Fine is reportedly the reason why the bill was picked back up. Fine was hand-picked by President Donald Trump and is currently running for Congress. He did not introduce SB 440, but he did introduce bills that would seek to ban rainbow flags from government buildings and ban children from attending drag shows. Florida Senator Kristen Arrington, who voted against the bill, says it, “really does promote government employees and contractors to harass transgender individuals by allowing them to intentionally misgender them by using disrespectful pronouns and having no consequences. (It gives people) a license to discriminate free from accountability.” She also told Advocate “It seems that it’s (an) attempt to create a hostile work environment for LGBTQ people, particularly transgender Floridians.” This bill is more evidenced that the current climate in the U.S. is promoting and encouraging discrimination against trans people.