The Florida House passed a bill on Friday that would require pilot’s licenses to show a person’s sex assigned at birth rather than their gender identity, and would require health insurance companies to pay for therapy to detransition from sex-reassignment treatments or procedures.
HB 1639 passed along a party-line vote (75-33), with Democratic lawmakers claiming it would put trans citizens in harm’s way.
The bill’s counterpart, however, was never even provided by the Senate, which increases its chances of getting to the governor. Ron DeSantis’ office is unmatched. However, it sparked a protest against the act outside the Capitol on Wednesday from more than 100 trans rights activists.
Republican Rep. Doug Bankson, who represents Orange and Seminole counties, asserted that his act was not intended as an assault on transgender citizens.
“The law dictates that leadership may be grounded in reality rather than emotion. While we can express empathy for those who exhibit gender dysphoria or fully embrace it and say, ‘Don’t say that I’m suffering.’ They are free to decide that. We’re not contesting that choice,” Bankson said. “We’re not then obligated as a state to agree and then adhere to our laws and functions, whether it’s for women’s sports, restrooms, or recognition.”
Modifications to a driver’s license
For citizens, one of the bill’s provisions, which refers to the gender markers on driver’s licenses, has already become a fact. In January, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) made a policy change that prohibits people from requesting changes to the gender marker on their driver’s licenses.
New state legislation forbids gender-affirming driver’s licenses for trans people.
Some trans people may not be able to get a driver’s license with a symbol that matches their gender identity as a result of the shift.
“It’s about focusing on a particular group of people. A marginalized population. Do we do this because we want to be the most extraordinary? Because we want to be more innovative and declare, ‘Oh, we found another way to punish trans people.’ This is not required,” according to Broward County Democratic Rep. Robin Bartleman.
Another issue raised by politicians was whether changing the license symbol may lead to Florida’s dissatisfaction with the Real ID Act. The driver’s licenses issued by states are not valid for entering some federal facilities, nuclear power plants, or boarding commercial flights if they do not adhere to the requirements of the act.
“This bill would require trans people to be identified whenever they are required to present their ID. According to Democratic Rep. Rita Harris of Orange County, this bill may even require any Florida resident to have a card or face the possibility of not boarding a commercial flight. This may make us ineligible under the Real ID Act of 2005, a law created to ensure that all 50 states are on the same page. Not all states have the right to decide what terms mean.”
Bankson reaffirmed that Florida still adheres to the law.
Health coverage is a part of it
According to the health insurance provision of the bill, companies are unable to forbid the provision of mental health or medical services in response to a person’s belief that their sex is incompatible with the sex assigned at birth.
Democratic lawmakers and Joe Saunders, the senior political director of the civil rights organization Equality Florida, made the point that the proposed legislation would promote change counseling to attempt to alter a person’s gender identity. The American Psychiatric Association opposes treatments that disregard the identities of people with diverse gender expressions.
“Transgender persons are everywhere and will always be.” “The purpose of bullying trans residents out of public life entirely,” Saunders said, “is to weaponize private insurance companies and state agencies against the health and participation of the trans community.”
According to Bankson, opponents of the bill were using the “extreme case” of conversion therapy to silence opposition, claiming that it was not included in the bill.
