STATEMENT: Anti-Transgender Bill Passes Final Florida House Committee

STATEMENT:

Anti-Transgender Bill Passes Final Florida House Committee

Tallahassee, FL — Florida’s Trans Erasure Bill (HB 1639), which imposes sweeping mandates on private insurance companies and bans transgender Floridians from accessing accurate driver's licenses and IDs, passed its final committee in the Florida House yesterday. Despite bipartisan opposition from lawmakers and thousands of Floridians having spoken out against the harms this sweeping legislation would cause, the bill was voted out of committee favorably by a 9 - 15 vote. The bill is now positioned to be considered on the floor of the Florida House.

Equality Florida provided the following statement in response:

“Transgender people exist — and always will. This cruel bill weaponizes private insurance companies and state agencies to threaten the safety and inclusion of the transgender community, and it exists for the purpose of bullying transgender Floridians out of public life entirely.

HB 1639 includes sweeping new anti-LGBTQ government mandates on private insurance carriers in the state that are sure to increase health insurance costs for every Floridian at a time when we are already facing an affordability crisis. The proposal further requires that all healthcare plans offered in the state include coverage for anti-trans “conversion therapy,” a dangerous and debunked practice opposed by the American Medical Association and banned in twenty-two states.

The bill also blocks transgender Floridians from obtaining accurate state-issued identification, which denies their legal existence and takes Florida out of compliance with the federal REAL ID Act. Forcing transgender Floridians to out themselves at an airport, in interactions with law enforcement, or when accessing a club or movie theater is a threat to their safety.

Lawmakers should end the continued obsession with culture war attacks in service to an agenda of censorship and government control and overreach, and instead, focus on solving problems rather than creating new ones that future legislatures will eventually have to clean up.”

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Equality Florida is the largest civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community. Through education, grassroots organizing, coalition building, and lobbying, we are changing Florida so that no one suffers harassment or discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.