As SAVE Dade prepares to Rally in Tally on March 16th with Equality Florida and many other LGBT organizations and allies, we call on your support to help pass two very important pieces of legislation. Both proposed bills secure basic human and parental fairness for LGBT people and their families.

ADOPTION

Representative Mary Brandenburg's legislation - HB 413 - to repeal the bigoted, discriminatory 32-year-old ban on adoption by gay Floridians has been assigned to four committees. The bill currently is in the Civil Justice & Courts Policy Committee.

The first step in moving this important legislation forward is to hold a hearing in the Civil Justice & Courts Policy Committee -- and for the committee to approve the bill.

Securing Our Children's Rights, Inc. (SOCR), SAVE Dade and our allied organizations are asking you to contact the Committee Chair, Rep. Nick Thompson (R-Ft. Myers), and ask him to set a hearing date on HB 413 as soon as possible. We also need you to ask him to support this important legislation as a co-sponsor. His phone number in Tallahassee is 850-488-1541. Please note that Rep. Nick Thompson was the Sponsor of HB 669 in 2008, known as the Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up For All Students Act, which protects all of Florida's students from bullying, including anti-gay harassment.

The other Civil Justice & Courts Policy Committee members are:

SAVE Dade will also be lobbying elected officials in Tallahassee for support on Sen. Ted Deutch's and Rep. Kelly Skidmore's legislations - SB 2012/ HB 397- that seek to update the Florida Civil Rights Act and Florida's Fair Housing Act to include LGBT individuals and families under its protections.

The Florida Civil Rights Act currently covers only race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap or marital status, while Florida's Fair Housing Act covers the same categories, including familial status.

The Deutch-Skidmore legislation simply updates Florida's laws covering employment, housing and public accommodations to include sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy and familial status.

It is still legal in Florida to be discriminated against or even fired for being or perceived to be LGBT in your place of employment. However, recent polls have shown that 89% of Floridians believe that homosexuals should have the same rights in housing, job opportunities, and public accommodations.

SAVE Dade urges you to contact your state senator and state representative and ask if they have joined the list of co-sponsors, and encourage them to support this important legislation.

 
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