The Don't Say Gay bill is on the Senate floor for its final vote in the legislative process this morning. If passed, it will go to the governor's desk.
We'll keep you posted here. Or you can tune in live. And no matter what happens -- our fight continues. thefloridachannel.org
Sen. @TinaPolsky : It's clear that this bill has caused a lot of angst and fear in the LGBTQ community...because it sends a message that they don't matter or should feel shame.
Sen. @TinaPolsky : Do we really think that teachers are engineering kids to be gay? It is preposterous...If you look in your hearts, do you really think we're doing something to help Floridians here?
. @LeaderBookFL is delivering a powerful rebuke of insinuations by @GovRonDeSantis ' office that anyone who opposes Don't Say Gay must be perpetrating or complicit in pedophilia.
. @LeaderBookFL : Students deserve a safe environment...Families, no matter their makeup, deserve to be supported...and Florida's educators deserve to be treated as the professionals that they are.
Sen. @LoranneAusley : This bill opens the floodgates to vigilante justice.
Sen. @LoranneAusley : If you were concerned about parents, you would have accepted amendments to clarify what "instruction" means in this bill.
Sen. @VicTorres_FL , who has a transgender granddaughter: This bill is not needed...I cannot support this bill.
Sen. @LindaStewartFL : It was only 6 years ago that, in my district, the LGBTQ community was wrecked by one of the deadliest terror attacks in US history.
Sen. Stewart with a powerful reminder of what's at stake.
Sen. @Annette_Taddeo : What are we doing here? How does this bill help LGBTQ kids be safe?...We are sending a message that is going to endanger the safety of our LGBTQ children and adolescents.
Sen. @Annette_Taddeo with a message to students who have organized against the bill : We see you. We hear you. You are loved. You are valued. You matter. And we will not stop until this state recognizes your value and worth.
Sen. @loriberman : We heard yesterday that the bill sponsor wants to solve the problem of more and more children becoming LGBTQ as a "fad"...let's be clear: that's what this bill is about.
Sen. @FarmerForFLSen : Current Dept. of Education rules already prohibit sex education before 5th grade. So that's already taken care of...The purpose of this bill is to stop any discussion of being gay.
Sen. @FarmerForFLSen : I got news for you -- you can't teach gay. And you sure can't pray away gay...I will always choose love over hate.
Sen. @FarmerForFLSen : Free State of Florida? Not if you're gay.
. @SenJanetCruz recognizes her daughter, a member of the LGBTQ community, who is in the gallery.
Sen. @RandolphBracy : This bill is about culture wars...in your effort to send @GovRonDeSantis to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I ask you, is it worth it? If one child is effected by this legislation, is it worth it?
Miami Sen. Ileana Garcia : Being LGBTQ isn't permanent...I will support this bill today.
She follows by misgendering a personal friend, a trans woman, repeatedly.
.@senpizzo : The obvious pain that this bill has caused and continues to cause can be appeased. We've had the most beautiful demonstration of young men and women coming into this Capitol...You can't talk about love children if you do nothing to ease their pain.
.@senpizzo : We are in the Senate, not Sunday School. We make laws, not conversations.
He then goes on to recognize the 7 Republican House members who voted against the bill.
.@senpizzo rereads Sen. @dennisbaxley 's admission that this bill is designed to combat the number of kids coming out as LGBTQ and lays out the case to challenge the bill in court.
.@senpizzo : This is personal...this is very personal.
Sen. @DannyBurgessFL says there is an effort to "inject" discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity into kids' education -- echoing the bill sponsor's suggestion of "social engineering".
FL's first openly-LGBTQ State Senator @ShevrinJones : The bill sponsor made it clear that this bill is about one thing: sexual orientation and gender identity...you can't say this isn't about the LGBTQ community if the bill sponsor says it is.
Sen. @ShevrinJones : I urge my colleagues to look at me and these children not as hypotheticals but as real stories.
Sen. @ShevrinJones : To those who think you can legislate gay people away, I'm sorry. You cannot. I think you should legislate to protect them.
Sen. @dennisbaxley closes on the bill.
By a vote of 22-17, the Florida Senate passes the hateful Don't Say Gay bill and sends it to the desk of @GovRonDeSantis for a signature. Republicans Jeff Brandes and Jenn Bradley join Dems in voting no.
Statement from Equality FL coming.
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