Los Angeles County this week voted to ban all official travel Florida and Texas in response to anti-LGBT+ measures recently taken in the two states.
The Los Angeles County Supervisory Board unanimously took action Tuesday to suspend all official travel to the two states, except if the absence was “seriously detrimental to the county’s interests.” Pasadena Star-News reported.
Two Republican-led states have recently pursued widely publicized divisive policies. LGBT+ youth, Florida’s so-called “Don’t Tell Gays” measure has garnered enough attention to get Disney CEOs into political scrutiny.
Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis On March 28, she signed the Parental Rights in Education Act, which prohibits teachers and educators in Florida from discussing “sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten until third grade or “inconsistent with the age or development of students.” in accordance with state standards ”in other classes.
For the governor Greg AbbottIn turn, the Republican issued an order on February 22 to the Department of Family and Home Affairs of Texas to investigate families with transgender children, with a specific focus to explore the use of medical treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender reassignment surgery in minors.
However, Mr. Abbott’s order was recently blocked by a judge which issued a nationwide ban. He is now awaiting an appeal from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who previously said that the so-called “gender reassignment procedures” for children would be tantamount to “child abuse.”
Supervisors Sheila Quell and Hilda Solis, leaders of the Los Angeles County Movement, wrote in defense of a recent ban in their county that the recently suspended Texas order “opposes all we know about best practices when it comes to supporting children and young adults to find out who they are and feel safe. ” Pasadena Star-News reported.
“This order is discriminatory, harmful and just harsh.”
Florida’s “Don’t Tell Gays” policy, they argue, is not much better in the two leaders ’assessment, noting that the law allows for“ perpetuating a culture of bullying, secrecy, shame and fear ”.
“Schools should be spaces that promote open discussion, critical thinking, meaningful interaction and the safe study of ideas,” they wrote. “The implementation of this bill will create an atmosphere that suppresses such a culture and suppresses learning itself.”
The county’s response to the two states ’new policies came in the middle of the year, which witnessed more and more legislation targeting LGBT + Americans being introduced only in for the first months of 2022 than in any other year.
Simple this weekAlabama lawmakers have finally approved a bill that would allow doctors to jail for up to 10 years for blocking puberty, hormone therapy or providing gender surgery to transgender youth in the state who are considered to be under the age of 19.
