ABOVE: State Rep. Anthony Sabatini, screenshot via Sabatini’s Facebook page.
TALLAHASSEE | Anti-LGBTQ State Rep. Anthony Sabatini filed House Bill 211 Sept. 29, Florida’s latest attack on transgender youth.
HB 211 would criminalize health care providers who perform gender-affirming care for the vulnerable population. Sabatini, a Republican who represents Clermont, is also a candidate for Congress who bills himself as an “America-First conservative.”
“Make no mistake, this legislation has nothing to do with the health and safety of children,” Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith said in a statement. “In fact, it gets in the way of doctors providing care and stops parents from doing what is best for their kids.”
Sabatini’s “Vulnerable Child Protection Act” states that any health care practitioner who performs gender-affirming care on a minor would commit a misdemeanor in the first degree. In Florida, the sentence is punishable by jail terms of up to one year and fines of up to $1,000.
Smith called the bill “cut and paste language from right-wing political strategy groups like the Heritage Foundation.” She also noted that it seeks to target transgender youth “as an election strategy to mobilize far-right voters.”
According to Equality Florida, Sabatini “has cultivated a reputation for sponsoring extremist bills, and GOP leaders in Tallahassee are increasingly embracing his extremism. They’re making passage of language first introduced by him a legislative priority, including last session’s Transgender Youth Sports Ban.”
On the first day of Pride Month, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the anti-LGBTQ Senate Bill 1028 into law, which banned transgender youth from playing sports that align with their gender identity. The Human Rights Campaign filed a federal lawsuit against the measure June 30.
Equality Florida applauded their national partner’s efforts. “We cannot sit idly by as Republican legislatures make transgender youth the newest target of a campaign of hate and ignorance,” Public Policy Director Jon Harris Maurer shared at the time.
With HB 211, the organization says that Florida’s Republican-led Legislature “has fired their first shot across the bow of LGBTQ equality for the 2022 legislative session.” Equality Florida vows to “fight to protect the health and safety of every child they target.”
To support Equality Florida’s efforts, visit EQFL.org.
