E. Ian Waldick,
A high school science professor at Florida Virtual School, was fired on October 24, 2023, for using the gender-neutral honorific “Mx.” instead of “Ms.” or “Mr.” in emails and other forms of class communication. They were fired solely because of who they are; they were not accused of any professional failings or teaching deficiencies.
A far-right site published an article on November 1, 2023, accusing small-town Alabama governor and priest F. L. “Bubba” Copeland of using several social media accounts to post pictures of himself wearing women’s clothing and makeup. Copeland committed suicide just two weeks after the article was published.
The mother of a transgender 12-year-old cried in federal court on December 13, 2023, as she testified about the possibility of having to leave her Navy commander husband to care for her daughter if Florida’s restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors go into effect.
These stories demonstrate the real harm that anti-LGBT+ policies cause, the ongoing marginalization and stigmatization of LGBTQ+ individuals that the policies represent, and the broader “culture war” in which they are being waged.
Florida has recently declared war on the LGBTQ+ community by limiting access to life-saving gender-affirming care that can be provided to trans teenagers and adults and forbidding educational training regarding sexual orientation and gender identity to all children, like many other states controlled by far-right Republican legislatures. LGBTQ+ students in public schools are subjected to purposeful mistreatment by teachers, forced to use restrooms that are incompatible with their expressed gender, and sent to abusive parents.
Bills have already been introduced for the upcoming legislative session that would further restrict the diversity training that private businesses provide to their employees and prohibit government agencies from flying, among other things, rainbow flags to support the LGBTQ+ community.
According to The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, nearly half of LGBTQ youth “seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year,” and almost 20% of transgender and nonbinary youth attempted suicide. Less than one-third of young people who identify as transgender or nonbinary found their homes to be gender-affirming. Youth who identify as LGBTQ+ are tremendously overrepresented in foster care. It’s understandable why LGBTQ+ youth are considering suicide at such a higher rate when they are openly mocked by our elected officials and called “demons” and “mutants” at public hearings on proposed legislation.
But why are we acting this way? Does anyone really get harmed by the existence and visibility of LGBTQ+ individuals? Why do our elected officials continue to put such a strong emphasis on further restricting the right to exist by the majority of people? It might be easier than putting forth significant proposals to address the property insurance, affordable housing, or homelessness crises that currently afflict our state. Or maybe the attacks are an attempt to organize and mobilize the far-right voting base, which simply enjoys seeing harm done to LGBTQ+ members. In either case, the cruelty is the point. After all, “the effort to limit trans rights has supplanted same-sex marriage as an energizing issue for social conservatives at a pace that has stunned political leaders across the spectrum,” the New York Times recently reported.
People should remember that, statistically speaking, one out of every 14 family members seated at the dinner table identifies as LGBTQ+ this post-holiday season. Members of the LGBTQ+ community are out and proud because we are a part of every household and will not engage in the efforts to go back in time before public acceptance.
As a state, we should be better than this. Instead of creating boogeymen and offering “solutions” in search of problems, let’s get to work fixing issues that really exist.
E. Ian Waldick is a local attorney with many queer and trans family members, and who has been a licensed foster parent for queer and trans teens in Florida’s foster care system.
