'Culture wars are not what Floridians care about,' one advocate said.
LGBTQ rights advocates from across Florida walked the streets of Tallahassee and met at the steps of the Historic Capitol Thursday
to protest legislation that would further roll back their rights. Wearing blue shirts that said "Let Us Live," protesters chanted, "This is what democracy looks like," in fierce wind and rain. "We need to start running for office," said Jules Rayne, a community organizer for Equality Florida and Manatee County resident. "We need to be everywhere, in every school district, in every county commissioner's seat, in every mayor's office." After years of the Florida Legislature passing bills that target the LGBTQ community, the Republican-led branch of government still isn't letting up. There are multiple bills attempting to further prohibit state funding for diversity, equity and inclusion in K-12 schools, state agencies and higher education. Hundreds of Floridians marched from Cascades Park to the Capitol Thursday morning for the "Let Us Live March" to protest these bills and hold a rally on the front Capitol steps with trans leaders, who said they weren't letting up, either. LGBTQ advocates highlighted a small win that happened earlier this week, when two anti-DEI bills, "Gender Identity Employment Practices" (
SB 440 ) and "Prohibited Preferences in Government Contracting" (
SB 1694 ) were postponed
in their committee on Tuesday. SB 440, sponsored by Sen. Stan McClain, R-Ocala, and called the "Freedom of Conscience in the Workplace Act," would prohibit employers from being required to use certain pronouns or requiring them to use a pronoun that does not correspond to the employee’s or contractor’s sex.
Critics are calling it the "Don't Say Gay or Trans at Work" bill. And SB 1694, sponsored by Sen. Randy Fine, R-Melbourne Beach, would prohibit an awarding body from giving preference to a vendor on the basis of race or ethnicity. More than 1,000 members of the public signed up to comment during the Senate Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability, which Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, R-Orlando, said attributed to the bills getting delayed. Smith said it's evidence that "people power works." "All of this other stuff related to DEI is not solving any problems. It's not improving anyone's life, and it's just honestly needlessly dividing us," he said. There are still other anti-DEI bills making their way through committees, however, including one that some say would push the controversy over book bans into overdrive and another that would potentially halt funds for efforts like domestic abuse shelters for women. "Prohibitions and Limitations on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Requirements for Medical Institutions of Higher Education" (
SB 1710 ) was passed through the same committee that temporarily postponed SB 440 and SB 1674. That measure, sponsored by Sen. Nick DiCeglie, R-St. Petersburg, prohibits state agencies from expending certain funds for a DEI office or officer. Another measure by McClain, the same sponsor as the "Don't Say Gay or Trans at Work" bill, would define the term "harmful to minors," and further limit classroom materials. "Material that is Harmful to Minors,"
(SB 1692) , says: "The school board may not consider potential literary, artistic, political, or scientific value as a basis for retaining the material." That bill passed through a Senate Criminal Justice Committee and is headed to the Committee on Education K-12. If passed, work "by Shakespeare or other very well-known authors would be on the chopping block in our public schools, which brings us in the in the wrong direction all over again," Smith said. And most worrisome for Rayne, the Manatee County community organizer, is
"Official Actions of Local Governments" (SB 420), which would prohibit counties and municipalities from funding, promoting or taking official action as it relates to DEI. It would prohibit local governments from promoting or providing differential or preferential treatment or special benefits to a person or group based on that person’s or group’s race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation. Critics of the bill included some Republicans, who said the bill needed more work, especially with the word "differential" versus "preferential." "If we provide differential treatment to a person based on sex, that could create a problem with a program that was intended for abused women, which nobody would want to get rid of," said Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples. "We really need to hone in on where you're trying to go." The bill still passed along party lines, with all Republicans voting yes. Rayne said she believes this bill, along with many of the other anti-DEI measures, are broadly written, poorly defined and don't serve the diverse, unique population of Florida. "It's going to put Floridians' lives at risk and further erase our culture," she said. "These bills are not what people are talking about at their kitchen table. "Culture wars are not what Floridians care about."
Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at .
