A Senate bill is expected to be heard on Tuesday that would prohibit the use of preferred pronouns in Florida workplaces and limit gender identity training for state and local government employees.
Sen. Stan McClain (R-Gainesville) sponsored the bill (SB 440). Rep. Rachel Plakon (R-Lake Mary) leads the House version (HB 1495).
Under the "Freedom of Conscience in the Workplace Act," Florida employers or contractors cannot require employees to use pronouns that don't match a person's biological sex. Employees or contractors also can't make employers use their preferred pronouns if they don’t match their biological sex.
In addition, the legislation would make it unlawful for a potential employer to take adverse personnel action against an applicant, employee, or contract for religious, moral, conscience-based, or biology-based beliefs. This also includes views on traditional or Biblical views on sexuality and marriage or the person's disagreement with gender ideology at or away from work.
The bill is being messaged as another "Don't Say Gay" bill, including by Equality Florida, an advocacy group for civil rights for Florida's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community.
Equality Florida also dubbed the bill "Trans at Work 2.0."
"This bill enacts state regulations on pronoun use in public and certain private workplaces. It shields employees from accountability for anti-trans harassment and intentional misgendering, and prohibits the inclusion of a transgender or nonbinary gender option on any job application or related employment form," Florida Equality said. "The bill also prohibits LGBTQ-related cultural competency training requirements for government workers."
The "Don't Say Gay" bill 1.0, which never mentions the word gay, was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022.
If fully passed, SB 440/HB 1945 would take effect on July 1.
