Florida Proposes Expanding ‘Don’t Say Gay’ to the Workplace

A new Florida bill has been proposed and would expand the infamous and ignorant “Don’t Say Gay” bill to the workplace. House Bill 599 was introduced last month by freshman Republican representative Ryan Chamberlin with specific rules that target individuals in government workplaces and nonprofits.

The bill would create drastic changes to Florida’s employment statues and declare that “a person’s sex is an immutable biological trait.” If that’s not bad enough, it would also prohibit government employees from using a person’s pronouns if they “do not correspond to his or her sex.” This outrageous bill goes on and on to banning employees from asking workers to share their pronouns, and even prevent trans employees from sharing their pronouns at all. Even more so, the bill would prohibit employees and contractors from “providing to an employer his or her preferred personal title or pronouns” if they do not match the worker’s assigned sex at birth.

Additionally, the bill would wreck havoc for incredible nonprofit organizations by banning any tax-exempt nonprofit or employer that receives state funding from requiring ANY “training, instruction, or other activity on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”

Trans journalist and activist Erin Reed wrote that this bill could “effectively torpedo LGBTQ+ nonprofits and activist programs, comparible to Russian laws that outlaw gay and trans ‘propaganda.'” Reed continues by saying most organizations would be likely to shut down and that it would be “nearly impossible” to continue operations legally at that point. “It would be a blatant power grab by the state targeting organizations critical to the government and would further drive LGBTQ+ activism and organizing underground in the state,” Reed states.

Anna Eskamani, a Florida Representative and the state’s first elected Iranian American Lawmaker, echoed Reed’s concerns on X, stating the bill was “bigoted, unnecessary and highly unconstitutional.”

Although the Florida legislative session does not restart until March of 2024, bills can still be proposed and filed for consideration next year. Since Ron DeSantis‘ disgusting “Don’t Say Gay” bill was passed in 2022, dozens of trans Florida residents have fled, as their lives have been uprooted and disheveled.

It is obvious that this bill would be an obvious power grab, and goes to prove just how obsessed these Florida Republicans are with trying to erase the LGBTQ+ community.

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