DeSantis enacts a wave of laws targeting gender-affirming care, pronouns in schools

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis put the final stamp on several of the more contentious proposals of Florida’s legislative session Wednesday by signing into law a ban on transgender minors receiving gender-affirming care and expansions to state’s parental rights rules panned by critics as “Don’t Say Gay.”

In one swoop, DeSantis enacted these bills and other GOP priorities that were sought by the presumptive presidential candidate like making it a criminal offense for someone to use certain bathrooms that don’t align with their sex at birth and blocking children from attending adult-themed drag shows.

The proposals were fiercely opposed during Florida’s lawmaking session by LGBTQ advocates and Democrats who argue the policies target the transgender community and will further marginalize vulnerable kids. One group labeled the DeSantis bill signing as the “slate of hate.”

“There’s a lot of nonsense that gets floated around,” DeSantis said during an event at a private Christian school in Tampa. “What we’ve said in Florida is we are going to remain a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy. Kids should have an upbringing that reflects that.”

The list of new laws build on several policies Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature has tackled in the past, alarming LGBTQ advocates who say they are being further demonized to bolster the Republican governor’s case for president.

The moves come after the DeSantis administration carried out similar actions since last year, such as medical boards approving rules that forbid trans minors from receiving gender-affirming care and the state’s liquor and business licensing agencies investigating two separate holiday-themed drag performances out of concerns that young children attended possibly “lewd” performances.

One of the key measures enacted Wednesday, SB 254, bans transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, putting Florida in line with more than a dozen other states currently prohibiting doctors from providing minors with hormone therapies or, in some rare cases, surgeries.

This policy “strips right to make healthcare decisions for their children,” according to the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida, which deemed the bill signing as the Republican governor’s “slate of hate” that amounts to “an all-out attack on freedom.”

“DeSantis doesn’t see freedom as a value worth defending, he sees it as a campaign slogan in his bid for the White House,” Joe Saunders, Equality Florida's senior political director, said in a statement. “And he is setting freedom — and Florida’s reputation — ablaze in his desperation to win the GOP nomination."

Florida’s Republican leaders, who hold supermajorities in both chambers, however, contend that the new laws are meant to “protect the innocence of Florida’s children.”

Through moves like broadening the state’s prohibition on teaching about sexual identity and gender orientation from kindergarten through third grade to pre-K through eighth grade, GOP lawmakers hope to ensure students learn about these topics at home instead of at school.

This measure, encapsulated in FL HB1069 (23R), is part of the state’s push to strengthen a parental rights law that was introduced in 2022 and slammed by critics as “Don’t Say Gay.” The new expansions to the bill include outlawing school employees from asking students for their preferred pronouns and restricting school staff from sharing their pronouns with students if they “do not correspond” with their sex.

The wide-ranging measure also requires schools to yank challenged books within five days of someone flagging it, a shift opponents equate to “book banning.”

“We just made the decision as a state, and me as governor, to just say we’re protecting kids,” DeSantis said Wednesday. “We’re going to protect kids when it’s popular, we’ll protect kids even when you take some incoming as a result of maybe offending some ideologies or some agendas out there.”

Democrats during session continued to label the bill as “Don’t Say Gay,” insisting that the policies extend beyond the language in the legislation and target the LGBTQ community. They drew attention to instances such as a Republican House member labeling transgender people as demons, imps and mutants, comments that came during debate on a bill that makes it a misdemeanor trespassing offense for someone to use bathrooms in government buildings that don’t align with their sex at birth, and calls on schools to adopt rules covering the issue.

That legislation, also signed by DeSantis on Wednesday, is “dehumanizing” and effectively “politicizing bathrooms” to benefit conservatives politically, according to Democrats. But Republicans in Florida, and several other states that have taken similar action, say the law will codify what are “universal common decency standards” that are “ensuring women’s safety.”

"These bills take us several steps back as a society that’s fought hard for progress and equality,” Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book said in a statement. “Being gay or trans isn’t perverse. It isn’t dangerous. What’s dangerous is the discrimination legalized today.”

In addition to these bills, DeSantis also signed:

SB 1438, which seeks to block drag show promoters and venues that allow children to attend drag shows depicting nudity or sexual content. Florida’s business regulator can revoke an establishment’s license to operate and fine it up to $10,000 if they violate this law.

FL HB225 (23R), which reorganizes the Florida High School Athletic Association directors to give the governor eight appointees and the commissioner of education on the 13-member board. This legislation also allows teams to give brief opening remarks — including prayers — before high school athletic contests, something that has been the subject of lawsuits in Florida.