A few blocks from my home is the site of the Pulse massacre. We just passed the 4-year anniversary. In the six months that led up to the massacre, Florida Republicans had introduced more than 200 bills attacking freedoms of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities. But it’s okay: my right-wing friends tell me everything's all better now, and that they don’t even notice any more hatred toward the LGBTQ community.
Admittedly, some things did change after Pulse. Shops now openly and proudly display the rainbow flag, people are much more vocal about their support, and even so-called “religious” politicians—sensing a turning tide—have largely stopped smearing the community as evil. I’ll note that all of these changes are due to Floridians evolving on the issue, as opposed to the Republican party. Unfortunately, that is the real issue here, since the Republicans are in solid control of all facets of our government.
Although few conservative politicians still openly extol the belief that homosexuals are outright evil, their assault on the gay community has never stopped. They still support the same discriminatory and hateful policies toward the LGBTQ community as they always have, along with a few “evangelical” Democrats who desperately need to be primaried. The only difference is now many of them say they don’t hate gays, they just want to protect others who might because their prejudice is based on “religious freedom.”
The reasons may have shifted, but those politicians are still in lockstep fighting against humane treatment of the LGBTQ community. For example, even though 82% of all Americans believe it is wrong to be able to hire or fire someone based on sexual orientation, Florida was one of the few states that allowed this to go on until June 15, when the Supreme Court ruled that civil rights protections must be universally extended to LGBTQ workers.
Rally at Supreme Court
It’s a damn good thing. Florida Republicans were never going to allow that to happen. After the Pulse massacre, the business community rallied behind a bill called the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, which would have finally prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace.
This was significant because for the first time, every major Florida company put out statements in support for the bill. This included Disney, CSX, Darden Restaurants (think Olive Garden and Red Lobster), Marriott, AT&T, and the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. Unfortunately, Republicans weren’t having it, and they let it die in committee.
The LGBTQ community couldn’t even get this basic protection from their own state government. When Gov. Ron DeSantis, a well-known bigot, tried to improve his image by issuing an executive order barring discrimination within his administration, he purposefully left out sexual orientation and gender identity. When this was pointed out to him, DeSantis refused to fix it.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
Giving fundamental human rights shouldn’t have required a judicial ruling, but it did. Yet Florida discriminates in a multitude of ways—and it remains to be seen how far the Supreme Court ruling can reach. For example, a gay couple in Florida has no legal protection from eviction. There is also no law against a bigoted doctor denying treatment to someone from the LGBTQ community. Even worse, the Republican House tried to pass a bill specifically stating that doctors would have “immunity from liability” if injuries or death occurred from denial of medical treatment. You know—religious freedom.
Not even children are immune here from legalized hatred. There are 83 publicly funded charter schools that can legally refuse admission to LGBTQ students and/or children of gay couples. A student can be expelled for just stating support for the LGBTQ community. This statement is directly taken from page 16 of the 2020 Trinity Christian Academy student handbook:
TCA retains the right to refuse enrollment or to expel any student who engages in sexual immorality, including any student who professes homosexual, bisexual or transgender identity or engages in homosexual, bisexual, or transgender conduct, as well as any student who condones, supports, or otherwise promotes such practices (Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:27).
TCA is a taxpayer-funded school, so we are paying for this bigotry. Of course, Democrats tried to introduce bills to prohibit this kind of discrimination against children, but Republicans always shot them down.
Fortunately, there has been a type of pressure that even the GOP listens to: money. Harris Rosen, a rich local hotelier, had been allowing his corporation’s tax money to fund Florida’s charter voucher programs—which is an option in this state. After learning about the discrimination, he put a stop to it. Republicans vilified him for doing so, but there wasn’t much they could do since the overwhelming majority of us rightfully believe it’s wrong to punish children because of who they are.
Being out of step with the populace is sort of the Republican mantra. Many Florida conservatives insist that hatred toward gays isn’t their primary motivation, but their case isn’t helped when their own politicians joke about having gays executed.
As Rep. Carlos Smith pointed out, he had worked with Republican Rep. Mike Hill on a bill to protect greyhound racing dogs. He found it ironic that Hill thought dogs deserved basic protections from violence, but not gay people.
Sadly, Florida has had a long and shameful history when it comes to the homosexual community. The infamous “Johns Committee” was originally established right here by the Florida legislature in the mid-’50s. The purpose was originally to root out communism in the state by targeting Florida civil rights organizations. They failed to find any links, so they turned their focus on an easier target. The committee argued that gays and lesbians were much more of a threat to national security, and went after them with extreme contempt. The committee ignored due process and right to counsel, and had no qualms using tactics like entrapment and blackmail. They interrogated everyone, including young students and educators, and they were even allowed to seize medical records to try to find homosexuals. Lives were ruined.
Even recently, Florida politicians still carried the torch for bigotry against gays. When public opinion significantly shifted on gay marriage a decade ago, then-Gov. Rick Scott and his attorney general, Pam Bondi, spent millions to prevent same-sex couples from getting married. Florida also holds the dishonor of being the very last state to repeal the ban on gay adoption. This was particularly reprehensible when factoring how it finally ended.
The Florida Department of Children and Families reached out to a gay couple to take in two severely abused four-year-olds because of the good work they did for many prior foster children. The men were able to heal the children, and decided that they should adopt them. Republicans actually took them to court to stop them, even though the state had asked for their help. So desperate was the GOP to prevent gay adoption that they brought in the co-founder of the Family Research Council, George Rekers, to argue that gays should never be allowed to adopt. He couldn’t argue against the men, but instead ranted against gays in general. After a lot of time and money was wasted, the case was thrown out and the adoption ban finally repealed. Not that it matters, but Rekers was caught soon afterward traveling with a male prostitute.
Even now, after witnessing the violence targeting the LGBTQ community, Florida Republicans still won’t change. Their rhetoric and anti-gay legislation fuel the hatred, which is why the number of anti-LGBTQ hate groups have soared.
In fact, on the very last day of the 2020 session, seven Florida Republican lawmakers filed several anti-LGBTQ bills a few moments before the end-of-day deadline, and I don’t know which one is worse:
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One would imprison a doctor with a felony who provides health care for transgender children.
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Another goes after Florida cities and counties who took their own initiative to ban discrimination against LGBTQ workers by forcing them to repeal any protections that were granted.
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Two bills would legalize the medically debunked, widely discredited and extremely harmful ”gay conversion therapy.”
June is Gay Pride month. If you are sick and tired of witnessing right-wing politicians continue their assault on this embattled community, start by raising your voices to OUR Democratic leaders at the federal level. As long as Republicans rule Tallahassee, nothing will change. However, it’s looking more and more likely that Democrats will win the trifecta in national office. Here is where Democrats can make a difference.
Pulse shooting victims
As soon as Democrats restore balance to the courts by adding seats that were stolen, they need to get busy on legislation that will protect people and undo the damage caused by targeted legislative attacks on vulnerable populations. Democratic officials need to pursue an aggressive agenda to end LGBTQ discrimination nationwide, allow access to health care for everyone no matter who they are, and ensure protections against violence are enshrined in law.
It really is the very least we could do.
Same-sex marriage and gay adoptions became legal years ago, and as you can see, our society didn’t collapse. There is no argument to give a portion of our society the right to be seen by doctors, educated in taxpayer-funded schools, or live somewhere without the fear of getting kicked out because of who they are. To my Republican friends who just can’t support the push for equality: how about just leaving them alone? Stop blocking human rights of your fellow citizens, and quit supporting all these hateful bills that only serve to increase the violence.
It really is the very least YOU could do.
