Yet More Anti-Trans Bills Move Through FL Legislature
Two particularly vile bills expanding existing anti-trans laws are on their way through FL’s House and Senate.
by Aly Gibbs
I regret to report that Florida’s anti-transgender legislative prerogative continues unabated.
Stef Rubino, writing for Autostraddle, reports that the Florida state legislature—both the House and Senate—have begun the process of passing two dangerous anti-trans bills, HB 743 and SB 1010. In the Florida legislature, House and Senate bills are typically paired and advanced at roughly the same pace. These two bills, should they pass, would attach legal liability to any medical practitioner who “willfully or actively participates, or who aids or abets another health care practitioner to participate” in administering necessary, life saving, gender-affirming care to trans youth, a practice which was banned statewide in September of 2024 with the passing of SB 254. Parties found guilty would face third-degree felony charges, and up to $100,000 in fines.
The bills would also expand the civil liability of “an employee of the state, any of its political subdivisions, or any other governmental entity” in violating Florida Statutes 1014.04, framed as protection of “parental rights.” What this means is that any employee of the state (or anybody who can be construed as working for the state) is open to litigation from the parent of any queer child who they do not immediately out, should that child confide in them. State employees would be liable for “all economic and noneconomic damages,” and could be sued for up to two years after the supposed violation.
The most damning aspect of these changes are, of course, the vagueness. They expand existing harmful and discriminatory laws to ensure that they can be weaponized against as many people as possible at one time, which is generally considered bad practice as far as equitable rule of law is concerned. Not that Florida is overly concerned about that; Governor Ron DeSantis has been tirelessly working to harm and kill as many LGBTQ Floridians he possibly can for years now, altering public school curriculum to erase knowledge of queer people and advance an overtly Christian nationalist agenda in an already troubled state.
HB 743 and SB 1010 are just the most concerning bills currently being voted on. There are eleven other pieces of legislation targeting queer Floridians currently making their way through the legislature, including the banning of pride flags on government property, prohibiting the use of accurate pronouns in the workplace, and heavily curbing the rights of local government spending on any project that might be deemed “DEI.”
Frankly, Florida sucks tremendously as a state, and none of this is terribly surprising. But a lot of Floridians don’t suck, and deserve to live free from government persecution. Like Stef Rubino says in her coverage of these bills, DeSantis regularly uses Florida as a testing ground for bigoted, discriminatory laws, and other conservative governors are likely to follow his lead in the future.
While these bills may be altered in some ways before being passed, it is unlikely that they will fail to pass entirely. Both have been read once out of three times necessary before a final vote can take place, and are expected to go into effect on July 1st, should they pass.
Aly Gibbs (She/They) is a trans writer who reports on news important to the queer community.
