TALLAHASSEE, FL – Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, condemns Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for signing SB 170, which discourages cities from passing non-discrimination ordinances by raising the barriers to proposing ordinances and making it easier for individuals and businesses to challenge ordinances in court.

According to the latest data this year from PRRI, support for LGBTQ+ rights is on the rise in Florida and nationwide: 80% of Florida residents support nondiscrimination protections, and 66% of Florida residents oppose refusal of service on religious grounds. About eight in ten Americans (80%) favor laws that would protect LGBTQ+ people against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing. This reflects a dramatic increase in the proportion of Americans who support nondiscrimination protections since 2015, when it was 71%.

Human Rights Campaign Vice President of Legal Sarah Warbelow issued the following statement today:

“As Americans, we all share the bedrock value that every person deserves to be treated equally under the law. The overwhelming majority of Floridians – 80 percent – support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people. This unpopular and mean-spirited legislation is just another power grab by Gov. DeSantis and Florida’s extreme legislators hellbent on marginalizing, stigmatizing and erasing LGBTQ+ people. The Human Rights Campaign strongly opposes this new law and will continue fighting for LGBTQ+ Floridians to live without fear of discrimination.”

Florida has enacted a record six expressly anti-LGBTQ+ bills into law this year, more than the last seven years combined.

Gov. DeSantis signed HB 1069, which silences educators by prohibiting any instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity from Pre-K through 8th grade; SB 254, an extreme gender affirming care ban; HB 1521, an anti-trans bathroom bill; SB 266, which doubles down on his attacks on academic freedom; and SB 1580, a License to Discriminate in Healthcare bill that will allow healthcare providers and insurers to deny a patient care on the basis of religious, moral, or ethical beliefs.

THE FACTS: 2023 Becoming Worst Year On Record for Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation

So far in 2023, HRC is opposing almost 560 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced in statehouses across the country. A total of 80 pieces of legislation have been enacted into law this year. A total of 229 of those bills would specifically restrict the rights of transgender people, the highest number of bills targeting transgender people in a single year to date. This year, HRC is tracking:

• A total 131 gender-affirming care bans — bills that would prevent transgender youth from being able to access age-appropriate, medically-necessary, best-practice health care; this year, 17 have already become law in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Dakota, Utah, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Dakota, Montana, Oklahoma, Florida, Nebraska, and Missouri

• More than 30 anti-transgender bathroom bills filed;

• A total of 100 anti-LGBTQ+ curriculum censorship bills, and;

• 44 anti-LGBTQ+ drag performance ban bills.

Americans believe the amount of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is excessive, agreeing it is “political theater.” Likely voters across all political parties look at GOP efforts to flood state legislatures with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation as political theater. Recent polling indicates that 64% of all likely voters, including 72% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans think that there is “too much legislation” aimed at “limiting the rights of transgender and gay people in America” (Data For Progress survey of 1,220 likely voters, 3/24-26, 2023).

By comparison, last year in 2022 politicians in statehouses across the country introduced 315 anti-LGBTQ+ bills, 29 of which were enacted into law. These efforts — the result of a coordinated push led by national anti-LGBTQ+ groups, which deployed vintage discriminatory tropes seeking to slander, malign, and stigmatize LGBTQ+ people — only yielded a less than 10% success rate, as more than 90% of anti-LGBTQ+ bills were defeated. The majority of the discriminatory bills – 149 bills – targeted the transgender and non-binary community, with the majority targeting children. By the end of the 2022 state legislative season, a record 17 bills attacking transgender and non-binary children were enacted into law.

More than 300 major U.S. corporations have stood up and spoken out to oppose anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being proposed in states across the country. Major employers in tech, manufacturing, hospitality, health care, retail, and other sectors are joining with a unified voice to say discrimination is bad for business and to call on lawmakers to abandon these efforts. Four of the largest U.S. food companies also condemned “dangerous, discriminatory legislation that serves as an attack on LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly transgender and nonbinary people,” and the Walton Family Foundation issued a statement expressing “alarm” at the trend of anti-transgender legislation that recently became law in Arkansas.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.