The rainbow flag of the gay pride movement and the flag of the United States (Getty Images)
The Florida Senate approved legislation Wednesday night that will prohibit cities and counties from funding, promoting, or taking official actions relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
The final vote was 25-11 and came after a debate that began in the morning and ultimately ended at 8:36 p.m. Miami-Dade County Sen. Alexis Calatayud was the lone Republican to join all of the Democrats in opposing the measure. Independent Sen. Jason Pizzo voted with all of the other Republicans in support of it.
The bill is (SB 1134), sponsored by Clay Yarborough, a Jacksonville Republican. In introducing the legislation on the floor, Yarborough rolled off a number of instances when local governments spent taxpayer funds in a way that he said justified why he had filed the bill.
Among those expenditures he mentioned was Broward County spending nearly $900,000 since 2020 on DEI training, part of which including a so-called “Genderbread Person” to explain gender roles — or “push radical gender ideology,” as Florida DOGE put it on X.
Another was Hillsborough County paying $572,000 for an external contract that included training for county employees about unconscious bias.
“If counties and cities were not taking official actions that funds and promotes these types of things — these are just a few examples, by the way — the bill would not be necessary,” Yarborough said. “But we’re representing the same constituents and have an obligation to uphold the standards of transparency and accountability. That’s what the bill is about.”
Locally elected officials could be removed from office for violating the bill, and local governments found in violation could face lawsuits from any county or city resident who would choose to sue.
“This proposed legislation is a serious threat to local governments and directly challenges the constitutional principle of home rule in Florida,” said St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch in a remote video conference with local elected officials around the state earlier Wednesday.
“It is also the latest attempt by some in the Legislature to redefine and demonize the concept of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This legislation is vague, and the impacts will be much broader than many will realize.”
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said that, among the programs local governments might have to remove if the legislation is approved, are ones “supporting women and minority-owned business programs. Many cultural festivals and nonprofits, and even support for Pride festivals.”
Ambiguity
That vagueness is a major talking point for the bill’s critics.
“Policy debates are absolutely appropriate, but when legislation introduces unclear standards and then attaches severe penalties to those standards, it creates instability in local governance,” said Fernandina Beach Commissioner Genece Minshew. “The bills use broad terminology related to diversity, equity, and similar concepts but the boundaries of what are prohibited are not clearly defined.”
That ambiguity was also referenced on the Senate floor by Democrats, who were unsuccessful with amendments they argued would make the legislation clearer.
“As written, the bill exposes officials to severe consequences for any perceived violation, even when decisions are made in good faith,” said Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton. “Terms like ‘related to diversity, equity, and inclusion’ are undefined and sweeping and create significant legal risks for reasonable judgement calls.”
As the Senate and House versions moved through committee, sponsors have continued to amend the language, realizing they did not intend certain programs or activities to be banned. That included not affecting the city of Orlando’s development of a permanent memorial outside of Pulse, the former gay nightclub that was the site of a mass shooting in 2018.
As the Senate debated the bill into the evening, Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, said “the bill is rotten to its core.”
“It’s so broad,” he said. “It’s so sweeping and consequential in nature that it’s no wonder that the bill has been amended over and over and more and more exceptions have been added and more carveouts have been added, because there’s simply too many unintended consequences from this proposal.”
Not the first time the state has gone after DEI
The Florida Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis have been dismantling DEI programs in Florida for four years. In 2022, the Legislature passed and the governor signed legislation restricting how race and gender are taught in schools and discussed in workplace trainings. In 2023, the Legislature passed legislation banning the state’s public colleges and universities from spending money on DEI programs.
Passage of the bill is likely to result in an indeterminate cost savings to local governments, according to a Senate bill analysis.
Mayor Trantalis has already been up to Tallahassee at least once during the legislative session to speak out against another bill that would impose state regulations on pronoun use for public-sector employees and contractors. When asked what he thought was the true intent of this anti-DEI bill, he didn’t hold back.
“It’s clear [it’s] to denigrate the gay community, the African-American community, any persons of color. Women,” Trantalis said. “It’s quite targeted at those communities. The rhetoric over the past several years continues to show a direction that this particular administration and this Legislature has followed.”
House Speaker Daniel Perez said Wednesday that the bill is being misinterpreted to mean that the Legislature doesn’t want a local government to host a Pride festival.
“That is inaccurate,” he told reporters. “Do we want taxpayer dollars to be used to put on certain events that have to do with DEI and promote it by local governments? No, we don’t want taxpayer dollars used for that. But that doesn’t inhibit the ability for local governments to have a gay pride festival if that is what they choose to do.”
A companion bill in the House (HB 1001), sponsored by Jacksonville Republican Rep. Dean Black, is expected to vote on their companion bill early next week.