TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A bill that would require driver's licenses and other state-issued identification cards to indicate a person's sex of birth instead of his or her gender is being debated in the Florida House of Representatives.
House Bill 1639 was backed Monday by the Republican-led Select Committee on Health Innovation along party lines.
The bill also targets health insurance companies that provide a variety of services for LGBTQ+ individuals including sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures, forcing them to also provide "de-transition treatments."
Read the full nine-page bill below:
Sponsored by Doug Bankson, R-Apopka, the measure would require health insurers and medical plans that offer gender-affirming care to also offer insurance policies that do not provide such coverage.
One section of the bill also states that "a health insurance policy that is delivered or issued to a person in the state may not prohibit the coverage of mental health or therapeutic services to treat a person's perception that his or her sex ... is inconsistent with such person's sex at birth by affirming the insured's sex."
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The House bill does not currently have an accompanying bill in the Florida Senate.
The Compass Community Center in Lake Worth Beach, which advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, released the following statement regarding the bill:
"For over a half a century, LGBTQ people have been fighting to prove that we are like all Americans: We love our country, we fight for liberty and justice, and we want a better future for our children.
Once again, the Florida legislature seems determined to pass blatantly un-American laws that seek to deprive us of our lives, our liberties, and our pursuit of happiness.
And once again we say to those politicians and their supporters: when you, or someone you love, decides to live authentically and you need our help, our doors will be open to you and you will receive the same life-saving services that we provide to all who seek them.
Love always conquers hate"
-Michael Riordan, Compass
HB 1639 comes in addition to another bill called the "Parental Rights in Education Act," which targets gender identity in the workplace. A separate measure, HB 901, would prohibit flying flags tied to sexuality, gender orientation at certain locations.
State Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, told WPTV on Monday that the bills continue "down this ridiculous path of anti-LGBTQ."
These bills come after a string of laws have been passed in Florida in the last few years that critics believe attack the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
Among those new measures are the so-called "Don't Say Gay" law, banning gender-affirming care for minors, restricting discussion of personal pronouns in schools and a law that targets businesses that hold drag shows where children may be present.
