LGBT activists threw underwear at Florida House Republicans as lawmakers were discussing a controversial transgender bill at the state Capitol on Tuesday. Written on the underwear were messages reading "not your business," and "leave my genitals alone."
Videos shared on social media show several pieces of underwear raining on lawmakers and even falling over their heads.
The bill examined by Florida lawmakers on Tuesday would effectively criminalize doctors for providing gender-affirming care to trans youth, allowing the state to remove children from the care of parents supporting their trans child's health care. The move is in line with recent efforts made by lawmakers in Republican-led states to pass legislation limiting trans rights.
The bill has been strongly criticized by LGBT activists and Florida House Democrats who have tried to soften the harshness of the bill with a series of amendments that were rejected on Tuesday.
"There's evil in this world and we face it here today," Republican Randy Fine, the sponsor of the bill, said. "CS for SB 254 would make it illegal to do certain medical treatments on children that have the result of amputating perfectly good body parts."
The language used by the Republican representative has been condemned by House Democrat Robin Bartleman, who called the bill "unkind" and "inhumane."
"I need to remind everybody as we go forward, we're talking about human beings. The words evil, the words demons—these are people that other people love," Bartleman said.
Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel at LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (HRC), called the bill "a cruel effort to stigmatize, marginalize and erase the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender youth."
In a statement published on HRC's website, Oakley writes: "Let me be clear: gender-affirming care saves lives. Every mainstream American medical and mental health organization—representing millions of providers in the United States—call for age-appropriate, gender-affirming care for transgender and non-binary people. These politicians have no place inserting themselves in conversations between doctors, parents, and transgender youth about gender-affirming care."
SB 254 wasn't the only proposed legislation targeting the transgender and LGBT community discussed by the Florida House on Tuesday. Another bill would prevent trans youth from using toilets that don't match the sex assigned to them at birth, while another one would prevent children from attending performances that include "sexual content"—a description which many have read as an attack against drag shows.
Last month, Florida became the eighth state in the country to restrict gender-affirming care for trans teenagers under the age of 18, effectively preventing doctors from providing treatments like hormone therapy and puberty blockers to minors experiencing gender dysphoria. The rule was enacted by the Florida Board of Medicine and Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine despite backlash from parents of trans youth and trans advocates.
The eight states which currently restrict gender-affirming care for minors are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Mississippi, and Florida.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek Reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on U.S. and European politics, global affairs ... Read more
