Florida‘s New “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” Bill...

[Jessica_Rose]

Florida's New "Don't Say Gay or Trans" Bill Would Encourage Workplace Misgendering

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/florida-s-new-don-t-say-gay-or-trans-bill-would-encourage-workplace-misgendering/ar-AA1C12xG?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=5dbfed1c48b14e19940878b20eed10e5&ei=68

Story by James Factora (31 March 2025)

The Florida Senate has advanced a bill that would give free license for employers to misgender transgender and nonbinary employees.

Senate Bill 440, or SB 440, prohibits public employers from requiring employees to use trans people's preferred pronouns, and would also prohibit employers from being required to use trans workers' preferred pronouns. The bill would also remove "nonbinary" as an option from job applications and other employment forms, and would make it illegal to require LGBTQ+ cultural competence training.

Lastly, the bill strengthens protections for homophobes and transphobes, specifying that it is unlawful for employers to take action against employees for "a belief in traditional or Biblical views of sexuality and marriage, or the employee's or contractor's disagreement with gender ideology."

Florida state Senator Kristen Arrington, a Democrat who voted against the bill, told The Advocate that 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." She added that it gave people "a license to discriminate free from accountability."

"It seems that it's [an] attempt to create a hostile work environment for LGBTQ people, particularly transgender Floridians," Arrington told the publication.