GOP advances bill that would legalize anti-LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination

[Jessica_Rose]

GOP advances bill that would legalize anti-LGBTQ+ workplace discrimination

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/04/gop-advances-bill-that-would-legalize-anti-lgbtq-workplace-discrimination/

By Daniel Villarreal (1 April 2025)

Florida state Republican lawmakers have advanced a bill that would allow public employees and state contractors to openly discriminate against LGBTQ+ co-workers without fear of punishment.

The so-called "Freedom of Conscience in the Workplace Act" (S.B. 440) would forbid public employers from requiring workers to use transgender people's personal pronouns and forbid employers from punishing any employee for expressing "a belief in traditional or Biblical views of sexuality and marriage, or ... gender ideology."

"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," Florida state Sen. Kristen Arrington (D) said, according to Advocate. "And this is a license to discriminate free from accountability."

The bill is just one of several anti-LGBTQ+ bills currently being considered by state legislators, according to the statewide LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Equality Florida.

One bill would ban local governments from enacting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies (including any recognition of Pride Month) by defunding these initiatives and removing local officials who promote them. Another would prohibit any taxpayer funds from supporting DEI initiatives in state agencies, among state contractors, or grantees.

Yet another bill would ban Pride flags on government property, and another would restrict the ability of people under the age of 18 to seek reproductive healthcare without parental consent.

[April Marie]

They started by going after all of us to the right of the B in LGBTQ+. But, clearly, as you can see in the legislation, they are trying to remove the protections from our entire community.