27. That’s the number of anti-trans bills filed in Florida from 2023-2024. From the Don’t Say Gay Expansion Bill (HB 1069) passed in 2023 to the Stop WOKE Teacher Training Bill (HB 1291) in 2024, trans peoples’ history and rights are under threat.
Maxx Fenning is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of PRISM FL Inc., a non-profit founded to give access to inclusive education on LGBTQ+ resources for all. He explains that these bills have been threats to the everyday well-being of trans people around the state but also shares that the main targets of these bills have been trans youth by far.
“We have seen attacks on the trans community in every facet of their lives — from healthcare and education to IDs to expression — and in so many different areas,” said Fenning “But when it comes to trans students, that’s where we are seeing a lot of really really targeted harm.”
Adam Light, a 2024 graduate from Florida Atlantic University, identifies as a trans man. He shares that as someone who is still in the process of transitioning, being on a Florida campus was difficult. They shared that once, campus security called on them for being in the men’s bathroom.
“We left and went to the opposite side of campus because I was terrified — I didn’t want to get kicked out of FAU just because I had to use the bathroom,” said Light. “But at the same time, the way I present myself — unless I speak to people, people would assume I’m a guy.”
He explains that even when trying to use the women’s bathroom, he still faces harm.
“I did go to a girl’s bathroom once because I didn’t want to deal with the bullshit that day,” said Light. “[At first] I was taken aback because I was complimented, but then I opened my voice, and she said, ‘Oh sorry, you just don’t look like a girl,’ which I took as a compliment.”
Known as “The Bathroom Bill,” HB 1521, passed in May 2023, came to symbolize the turning tides of anti-trans legislation in Florida, marking the beginning of a historic slate of anti-trans bills signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Michael Riordan, Director of Media and Communications at the Compass LGBTQ+ Community Center in Lake Worth, shares that bills, such as the Bathroom bill, have affected her mental health.
“It destroys me as a human being to know that there are other human beings out there that, for no reason other than hatred and malice, want to make it harder for us to live our lives,” said Riordan. “It’s already hard enough.”
Fenning shares that although there has been a recent push towards offering gender-neutral or single-celled bathrooms, they aren’t prevalent enough on campuses.
“The issue is sometimes it’s inaccessible. Sometimes, the only one they have is in the nurse’s office,” said Fenning. “Sometimes, the only single-celled restrooms are labeled as ‘staff only’ restrooms or ‘teacher’ restrooms.”
According to a 2023 study from the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 72% of Transgender high school students have experienced feelings of depression, a rate that has increased over the past couple of years.
On July 21, 2023, Governor DeSantis signed a bill prohibiting using federal or state budgets on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs across college campuses. The Center for IDEAS, which previously provided educational opportunities and resources to BIPOC students, was closed shortly after.
Kris Barrios, a junior history major at FAU, shares that when he first got to FAU in August 2022, he had access to the Center for IDEAs until it was closed.
“It was basically removed my sophomore year, and not only has that kind of limited my access to meeting other queer people on campus,” said Barrios. “It also has kind of shut off that option for new queer students who are coming and looking for that community, and they don’t have the school’s actual support in finding it.”
According to the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management 2021-2022 Annual Report, 94% of the students who attended Center for IDEA’s events felt represented by the University.
Barrios explains that finding a community on campus has proven to be more difficult since the center’s closing.
“I think I’ve had to, in a way, actually work harder to find that kind of community where you really have to hunt to find student-run clubs and organizations rather than going to FAU staff for support with connecting with other LGBT individuals,” said Barrios.
Attacks on the Trans community don’t seem to be ending any time soon. On Jan. 29. President Donald Trump signed into law the “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” executive order, which hopes to carry out investigations to end the “social transitioning” of students in schools around the country.
“Each agency’s process to prevent or rescind Federal funds, to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, from being used by an ESA, SEA, LEA, elementary school, or secondary school to directly or indirectly support or subsidize the social transition of a minor student, including through school staff or teachers or through deliberately concealing the minor’s social transition from the minor’s parents,” as stated in the order.
Ximena DiPietro, a 2024 FAU graduate, worked as a middle school classroom assistant for Broward Schools post-grad. She recently quit. DiPietro explains that she was not free to express herself at work.
“I am not open at all at work,” said DiPietro. “For all intents and purposes, at work, I am a cisgender man, and it is a little awkward. When I first started working there, some of my students would ask me, ‘Are you a girl or a boy?’ I have to pretend and say I’m just a man who has long hair — and it’s like that’s not entirely true. I don’t like lying to my kids.”
She explains that during the end of her time at FAU, she noticed professors were a lot more hesitant to bring up certain subjects — for fear of losing their jobs.
“My professors were a lot more cautious about what they talked about, and they put on their syllabi advisory warnings saying ‘there’s some content in this class that’ll be difficult to talk about,’” said DiPietro. “Especially when it comes to race and gender and sexuality. Additionally, nobody really wanted to talk about gender or sexuality.”
Another bill, SB 254, prohibits any gender-affirming care treatments to be administered to patients under the age of 18 and prohibits the use of Medicaid or any public funds to be used to provide these resources.
This bill, which, although it doesn’t ban gender-affirming care treatments, makes it more difficult for patients to receive treatments, lengthening waitlists. This comes from individuals being forced to receive care from osteopathic medical doctors licensed in the State of Florida, banning nurse practitioners and physician assistants from administering care.
Light was recently able to receive a prescription for Testosterone. He shares that getting to that point was initially very difficult due to wait times.
“It was a long wait process, which I completely understood. Especially in Florida, with all of the bills passing, it’s becoming more and more difficult,” said Light.
He explains that although his insurance covered the medication at first after the bill passed, it no longer did.
“I had to change my insurance because they couldn’t cover my testosterone or my visits anymore — which sucked because I went so long without having it, to finally having it, to all of a sudden it being taken away, and I felt so close yet so far,” said Adam.
Nonetheless, the LGBTQ+ community stands strong, sticking together through these tough and dark times. Fenning believes these times are meant for the community to keep pushing forward.
“There are so many folks out there that are working hard to push back against this anti-LGBT legislation and all of this bill making and all of these attacks against the community,” said Fenning. “People are fighting for you, and you can be a part of that fight.”
Clubs like the FAU’s Lavender Alliance and BIPOC LGBTQIA+ Individuals Seeking Safe Spaces (BLISSS) seek to bring community within the LGBTQ+ community on campus.
According to a 2022 study from the University of Minnesota’s Gender Policy Report, 83% of people believe that Transgender people deserve the same rights and protections as other Americans. Although it may seem like the world is against the Transgender community, support is visible.
With programs such as PRISM and the Compass Community Center, advocacy and light for LGBTQ+ people lives on.
Riordan shares that as a Transgender person living in this climate, it is important to be proud of who you are.
“It’s important to just exist,” said Riordan. “You don’t have to go to a rally. You don’t have to do anything. It’s important for people out there to see you living a good life. Every single LGBTQ person right now who is comfortable with existing as an LGBTQ person — that’s an act of defiance.”
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