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Equality Florida - page 6

Florida House approves law to allow private agencies to turn away gay couples from adopting

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The Florida House on Thursday passed a measure that would let private agencies that cite religious or moral grounds to turn away gay couples seeking to adopt children. By a 75-38 vote, HB 7111, sponsored by Sanford Republican Jason Brodeur, was passed. Brodeur proposed the legislation only after the House voted last month to repeal the state’s 38-year-old ban on same-sex adoptions from state statute, though gay adoption has been legal since the courts ruled the ban unconstitutional back in 2010. The…

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House committee passes bill to allow private adoption agencies to deny gay adoption

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The Florida House Judiciary Committee today passed a controversial “conscience protection” bill (HB 7111) that would allow private adoption agencies to refuse child placements with gay couples. Conscience protection legislation grants a person or an entity the ability to refuse to perform an otherwise required duty, because the individual or entity violates their religious or moral conviction, explained the bill’s sponsor, Sanford Republican Jason Brodeur. Brodeur maintained that the bill was not proposed (in the middle of the legislative session)…

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Study finds LGBT discrimination costs Florida businesses big

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Intolerance and bigotry is expensive business in Florida. That’s according to a report released Wednesday by a coalition of major employers in the state called Equality Means Business. Their report found that discrimination against the LGBT community costs employers more than $362 million a year. The losses are linked to employee turnover and loss of productivity. “We’ve long said that discrimination takes a toll on our economy, and we now know that price tag is more than $362 million a…

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Frank Artiles admits his ‘bathroom bill’ is still a work in progress as it advances

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According to Miami state House Republican Frank Artiles, the only reason he has introduced his legislation that would stop transgender people from using public restrooms aligned with their gender identity is because Miami-Dade County commissioners wouldn’t change their own ordinance. “I am here because the Miami-Dade ordinance is overbroad and subjective,” he told lawmakers today. He says that while there are 10 counties in Florida that have gender identity protections (including Hillsborough and Pinellas), only Miami-Dade allows men to enter…

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Equality Florida rallying members to oppose Frank Artiles’ transgender bill

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Miami Republican Frank Artiles’ controversial bill that would criminalize bathroom use for transgender people moves to its second committee in the House tomorrow, and LGBT activists are in Tallahassee right now trying to lobby legislators to vote against it. HB 583 goes before the Government Operations Subcommittee on Tuesday. The legislation would make it illegal for the transgendered to enter sex segregated facilities such as bathrooms, locker rooms, or dressing rooms. Critics say the bill would also compel businesses to discriminate against their own employees…

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Bill Day’s latest: Insult, injury follows Frank Artiles from day one

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In the eyes of Bill Day, the 2015 legislative session has been … interesting … so far for Republican state Rep. Frank Artiles. Only hours before the fall of the opening gavel, the Miami-area Republican was having pre-session drinks at Clydes & Costello’s, a popular Tallahassee bar. Around 1:30 a.m., Artiles, a former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant, (allegedly) punched a 21-year-old college student. The victim – identified as Peter Alberti – says he was only trying to get drinks at the…

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ACLU & other groups now oppose police body camera bill in Tallahassee

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After the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of law enforcement agencies last year, there was a nationwide clamor for police officers to begin wearing body cameras as a way to provide transparency and accountability for both the police and the citizenry. President Obama announced $263 million in funding for law enforcement agencies to buy body-worn cameras and improve training, and police departments throughout the Tampa Bay area said they would begin implementing their usage as well.…

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