Florida State Capitol. (Photo by DXR, from Wikimedia Commons – Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)
Florida House Bill 1639, dubbed the Florida Trans Erasure Bill by Equality Florida, passed its final committee in the Florida House, according to a press release from Equality Florida.
The bill has received widespread opposition from lawmakers and Floridians, but still received a 15-9 vote Feb. 23 in favor of moving the bill out of the committee. It now will be put up for consideration on the Florida House floor.
The bill would mandate that insurance plans offered in Florida include coverage for “conversion therapy.” It also seeks to restrict driver’s licenses from showing any gender different than a person’s sex assigned at birth, according to the release.
The release also states that “conversion therapy” is a dangerous practice that has been debunked by the American Medical Association and been banned in 22 states.
“This cruel bill weaponizes private insurance companies and state agencies to threaten the safety and inclusion of the transgender community… HB 1639 includes sweeping new anti-LGBTQ government mandates on insurance carriers in the state that are sure to increase health insurance costs for every Floridian,” Equality Florida stated in the release. “The bill also blocks transgender Floridians from obtaining accurate state-issued identification, which denies their legal existence and takes Florida out of compliance with the federal REAL ID Act.”
According to the release, if the bill goes into effect transgender Floridians will be at higher risk than ever as the changes to their IDs will force them to out themselves in countless situations, which is especially risky given the current nationwide aggression towards transgender people.
“Lawmakers should end the continued obsession with culture war attacks in service to an agenda of censorship and government control and overreach,” states the release. “Instead, focus on solving problems rather than creating new ones that future legislatures will eventually have to clean up.”
The bill has been added to a special order calendar for Feb. 29.
