The Florida Senate has revived a controversial bill that would restrict public employees from using preferred pronouns, igniting fierce debate across the state. The Government Oversight Committee took up the so-called “don’t say gay or trans at work” bill, which mandates that public employees be identified as either male or female on official documents and bars employers from directing workers to use pronouns besides he or she. This move comes just a week after Equality Florida activists celebrated what seemed like the bill’s demise. The measure was revived at the discretion of Florida state Senator Randy Fine, an anti-LGBTQ Republican currently running for Congress.
Many members of the public are concerned that the bill could create a discriminatory workplace environment. Robert Lee, a Florida resident who traveled to Tallahassee to oppose the bill on behalf of his gender-nonconforming children, said, “I don’t understand the purpose of this. This bill is hurting my family…It’s hurting my children, who are nonbinary. I really wish that we as a state could focus more on our insurance costs instead of just pointless little bills like this.” Supporters argue the bill safeguards employees who oppose using gender-neutral pronouns. However, Florida state Senator Kristen Arrington, a Democrat who voted against the bill, rejected that assertion. Arrington said, “The bill really does promote government employees and contractors to harass transgender individuals by allowing them to intentionally misgender them by using disrespectful pronouns and having no consequences.”
