New Democrat-Led Bill Would Strike Down Florida's Anti-Gay Marriage Law

Florida Sen. Tina Polsky, a Democrat, filed a bill Tuesday that would repeal a state statute exclusively defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.

While the 1997 statute has been inoperable since a 2015 Supreme Court ruling nixed all gay marriage bans, Sen. Polsky wants Florida to strike down its anti-gay language. Polsky, who has carried the bill for the past four years, noted in the past that if the pro-abortion Roe v. Wade decision could be overturned, what could stop the 2015 decision from also falling by the wayside?

"This is why elections matter. Talk about activist judges turning us back 50 years. If you continue to vote for R’s, abortion will be banned, birth control will be next, then gay marriage," she posted on social media in 2022, referring to the imminent Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

It's not out of the realm of possibility—in fact, in his concurring opinion for why Roe v. Wade should be overturned, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court "should reconsider" past rulings protecting contraception access and same-sex relationships.

Polsky has carried measures to repeal Florida statute 741.212 since 2021, though all attempts died either before the session began or in early committee meetings. Other lawmakers, including current state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando), have tried since 2017 to get the bill across the finish line, but to no avail.

Republican Rep. Fabian Basabe, a Miami Beach ex-socialite who once said he was gay, filed a resolution ahead of the 2024 session that would have called for a statewide referendum to remove language in the Florida Constitution banning gay marriage.

While he hoped his referendum would be the chance for voters to reverse their decision in 2008—when 62% of Floridians voted to amend the constitution to ban gay marriage—he was unsuccessful.

Some of the first anti-gay legislation in Florida was signed by Democrat Gov. Reubin Askew in 1977 when he greenlit a bill banning gay people from adopting children or getting married. That ban was upheld in 2005 by U.S. District Judge James Moody, father of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Florida Politics reported.

That ban would be struck down ten years later with the groundbreaking Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court Case, which required states to recognize marriages between same-sex couples.

The 2025 session begins on March 4.