“Don’t Say Gay,” bathroom bills, anti-trans care, book banning, and more.
Just when you think Florida Republicans have run out of ways to target the rights of LGBTQ youth, they keep finding new ones.
As the legislative session winds down, a pair of bills targeting students is close to becoming law. HB1539 will make it even easier to ban books in Florida schools, while HB1505 and its companion bill SB1288 will require parental consent for STI treatment and mental health care.
Those laws will disproportionately affect LGBTQ students.
“The point is always control.” PRISM Executive Director Maxx Fenning is following the bills and talks about their impending impact.
“That is the underpinning of many of these pieces of legislation.”
The STI and mental health bill is framed as supporting “parental rights” — the same framing used to justify the “Don’t Say Gay” law. Fenning says it will discourage teens from getting tested and discussing issues like sexual health. It will require consent for STI treatment, substance abuse counseling and more.
Fenning says it’s important for parents to be in the lives of their kids, but minors are making adult-like decisions, regardless.
“It is our responsibility as parents to direct the upbringing of our children. But those kids, at the end of the day, are people, people who are making their own decisions. They should be able to make decisions that keep themselves healthy and happy.”
The other issue affecting Florida kids is making it easier to ban books in school libraries.
The bill will get rid of “The Miller Test,” which says material is appropriate for minors if it has significant artistic or literary value even if there is a level of adult content.
“If we look at books like ‘Gender Queer,’ which may have more sexual or intimate themes that do have literary value, those would be books that are subject to objection.”
The news out of Tallahassee isn’t all gloom and doom, though.
Fenning, who goes up for session every year, says enthusiasm among Democrats is up and there have been victories worth celebrating.
“We don’t see everything that’s been accomplished. We have been able to kill a number of anti-LGBTQ bills, most notably the Pride Flag Ban bill. It has been placed in the garbage bin where it belongs.”
Fenning also says a number of anti-DEI bills have died, despite that being Republicans’ “boogeyman” of the moment.
“We have seen a number of anti-LGBT bills and other bills that would disproportionately impact our communities be put in the dustbin. We’ll see if they rear their ugly heads next year. But for now we are safe and sound.”
Courtesy photos.
