ORLANDO, Fla. – Several local organizations, nonprofits, and lawmakers are blasting a plan to take the gender identity debate from classrooms to the workplace.
Florida House Bill 599 would make it unlawful for any government agency, or any business that gets government funding or its employees to address someone by their preferred pronouns if they don’t match their sex at birth.
“As of right now this bill has no Senate sponsor and we should do everything we can to keep it that way because this bill is terrible for people,” said State Rep. Rita Harris, D-Orlando.
HB 599 also says nonprofits or any employer who receives state funding can no longer “require, as a condition of employment, any training, instruction, or other activity on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.”
It’s that phrase “other activity” that leaders at LGBTQ nonprofits and businesses say gives them pause.
“It’s very vague, it’s very broad and it seeks to disrupt the work of LGBT and affiliated charities,” said Carlos Guillermo-Smith with Equality Florida.
Leaders who spoke at a media conference against this bill say for a community that says they feel persecuted in the state of Florida, this bill would make it nearly impossible for organizations that support them like the Zebra Coalition and The LGBT+ Center of Orlando to do so.
“If this bill is passed, we will see a complete shift in how Zebra can serve our community,” said Heather Wilkie with Zebra Coalition. “Both through the way we provide our services and the funding to continue to work that we are doing.”
“We give back to so much of our community and sometimes when people in Tallahassee put these things out they’re not looking at every Floridan... we are Floridians,” said George Wallace, who leads The Center.
News 6 reached out to HB 599′s sponsor, freshman State Rep. Ryan Chamberlin, R-Marion County, for comment, but have not heard back.
Going forward, Equality Florida says they’ll continue to fight this piece of legislation as they invite more people to make their voices heard in Tallahassee for their “Pride at the Capitol Days.”
The annual Florida Legislative Session starts Jan. 7.
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