Why won’t state ban LGBTQ bias?
House Speaker Oliva says workplace discrimination isn’t a major problem
A bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers wants to add gay and transgender people to the state’s anti-discrimination law.
But despite that support, their effort hasn’t gotten a hearing and likely will not receive a vote this year.
One obstacle standing in its way is House Speaker José Oliva, who fears that prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace could lead to a flood of litigation.
A person’s sexual orientation isn’t evident like it is for race or gender, presenting a challenge for employers, he said.
“It is very possible that an employer does not know of a person’s sexual orientation,” said Oliva, R-Miami Lakes. “Then you could get in an event where somebody could lose their job and then they might claim it is based on something that somebody did not know to begin with.”
He doesn’t see a need for legislative action.
“This is not
amajor problem throughout Florida,” Oliva said. “Florida is a tremendously inclusive, immensely diverse state.”
Many of his colleagues think Florida’s antidiscrimination law needs to be updated. Nothing in state law bars businesses from firing or not hiring employees because of their sexual orientation.
Sixty-four legislators in the 160-member Legislature signed on as sponsors of the legislation called the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, making it one of the most popular bills filed for the 2020 session.
Rep. Jennifer Webb, one of the bill’s sponsors, said not only is it the right thing to do but it would also make Florida a more appealing place for businesses when recruiting employees.
It deserves a vote, she said. “Letting this bill go forward would be an honest way of allowing the Democratic process to thrive,” said Webb, the first openly lesbian lawmaker elected to the Florida Legislature.
Some of the state’s biggest businesses, including Disney and Florida Power & Light’s parent company NextEra Energy, have endorsed the Competitive Workforce Act.
LGBTQ advocates have been trying to get the anti-discrimination law expanded for more than a decade.
About 60% of the state’s residents — including all of those in South Florida — are already covered through local protections, according to Equality Florida, which advocates for the LGBTQ community. Broward County has had protections in place since 1995, but vast swaths of more conservative parts of the state remain uncovered.
LGBTQ issues have been a source of conflict during this year’s session. Florida’s school voucher program has come under fire because it directs public mon
ey to private schools that have anti-gay policies. A bill that would criminalize hormone therapy and sex-assignment surgery for transgender children produced emotional debate.
Monica Toro Lisciandro, a Brevard County resident, said she was forced out of her teaching job at a Christian school because someone phoned her bosses and told them she was in a relationship with a woman, attended gay pride events and “hosted homosexual activities.”
The Competitive Workforce Act has a provision that the protections
do not limit the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. So it’s unclear whether the law would have saved Lisciandro’s job.
But she said the state should do what it can to protect others like her from discrimination.
“It’s 2020, and it’s time for this to end and a new chapter for us to begin.” Lisciandro said.
The U.S. Supreme Court could end up settling the issue. It is expected to rule this year on whether sexual orientation is covered by federal civil rights laws.