‘We will not be erased’: Critics slam Ron DeSantis for unprecedented bills attacking LGBTQ+ people

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The bills – which restrict gender-affirming care for minors, threaten drag shows, forbid people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity, and prevent people from using their chosen pronouns at schools – were sharply criticised by LBGT+ advocates, and are out of step with established procedures for trans people back by major medical organisations like the American Medical Association. Former Florida state representative Carlos Guillermo Smith, the first openly LGBT+ Latino elected to the state legislature, wrote on Twitter the bills are “revoking our freedoms and ruining people’s lives in his quest for political power.” “We will NOT be erased,” he added. Lambda Legal, which advocates on behalf of LBGTQ+ people, said in a statement to The Independent that the bills showed a “callous disregard for LGBTQ+ Floridians and, in particular, trans youth by facilitating homophobia and transphobia and exposing this most vulnerable population to discrimination, harassment, and abuse.” The bills backed by the Republican governor include restrictions on gender-affirming treatments for minors like puberty blockers and sex reassignment surgery. That’s freedom for some parents but not for all parents.” Others effectively legislate away the concept of being transgender altogether, including a bill forbidding trans people from using bathrooms or changing rooms that match their gender identity, and another law that requires schools to hold that “a person’s sex is an immutable biological trait” and forbids faculty and students from using their chosen pronouns.