LGBT people in the U.S. state of Florida face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity became legal in the state after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas on June 26, 2003, while same-sex marriage has been legal in the state since January 6, 2015. Florida law does not address discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations. However, several cities and counties, comprising about 55% of Florida's population, have enacted anti-discrimination ordinances. Conversion therapy is also banned in a number of cities in the state, mainly in the Miami metropolitan area.
Legality of same-sex sexual activity
After Florida became a territory of the United States in 1821, the Territorial Legislature enacted laws against fornication, adultery, bigamy, and incest, as well as against "open lewdness, or...any notorious act of public indecency, tending to debauch the morals of society." Florida's first specific sodomy law, which was enacted in 1868 and made sodomy a felony, read: "Whoever commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature, either with mankind or with beast, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding twenty years." In 1917, the Florida Legislature added a lesser crime, a second-degree misdemeanor: "Whoever commits any unnatural and lascivious act with another person shall be punished by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding six months."
Florida courts interpreted the 1868 law to prohibit all sexual activity between two men or two women. In 1971, the Florida Supreme Court, ruling in Franklin v. State, struck down the "crime against nature" statute as unconstitutionally vague. The court retained the state's prohibition on sodomy by ruling that anal and oral sex could still be prosecuted under the lesser charge of "lewd and lascivious" conduct.
Same-sex sexual activity remained illegal in Florida until 2003, when the United States Supreme Court struck down all state sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas. As of 2017, the state's sodomy law, though unenforceable, has not been repealed by the Florida Legislature.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
The state enacted legislation banning same-sex marriage in 1977. Since the passage of Florida Amendment 2 in November 2008 by a vote of 61.9% in favor and 38.1% opposed, both same-sex marriage and civil unions have been banned by Florida's state Constitution.
Amendment 2 added Article I Section 27 to the Florida Constitution, which says:
Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.
A U.S. district court ruled on August 21, 2014, in Brenner v. Scott that Florida's same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional. As a result of that ruling, same-sex marriage has been legal in the state since the court's temporary injunction took effect on January 6, 2015.
Nine counties, thirty cities, and one town in Florida offer domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples.
In March 2016, a bill passed the Florida Legislature (House voted 112-5 and Senate voted 38-0) to repeal the 1868 cohabitation ban. The Governor of Florida, Rick Scott, signed the bill into law on April 6, 2016. The law went into effect on July 1, 2016. Only Michigan, Mississippi and North Carolina have similar laws on cohabitation bans.
Adoption and parenting
In 1977, partly due to the anti-gay Save Our Children campaign led by Anita Bryant in Miami, the Florida Legislature passed a law specifically prohibiting homosexuals from adopting children; the statute survived several court challenges, and was upheld by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 2004 in Lofton v. Secretary of the Department of Children and Family Services.
In 2010, in the case of In re: Gill, involving a same-sex couple raising two foster children whom they wanted to adopt, a state appeals court upheld the ruling by a lower court that the law violated equal protection rights of the couple and the children under the Florida Constitution. The Governor and Attorney General declined to appeal the ruling further, ending Florida's 33-year-old ban on same-sex adoptions.
The Florida Legislature undertook comprehensive adoption reform in 2015. The legislation repeals the 1977 ban on homosexual adoption. HB 7013, passed the Florida House of Representatives on a 68-50 vote on March 11. On April 15, the Florida Senate passed the bill on a 27-11 vote. Republican Governor Rick Scott signed the bill into law on June 11 and went into effect on July 1, 2015.
Birth certificates
Florida's Department of Health began listing both spouses on the birth certificates of children who have parents of the same sex on May 5, 2016. The move came after three same-sex couples filed a federal lawsuit against the state in July 2015 over its practice of treating married same-sex couples differently by listing only one parent on their children's birth certificates.
Discrimination protections
Since 2000, and amended in 2007 under Florida law, nursing home and hospital visitation can not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, but not gender identity.
Florida state law does not address discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.
The counties of Alachua, Broward, Hillsborough, Leon, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pinellas and Volusia, and the cities and towns of Atlantic Beach, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Dunedin, Gainesville, Greenacres Gulfport, Haverhill, Jacksonville, Key West, Lake Clarke Shores, Lake Worth, Largo, Leesburg, Mascotte, Miami, Miami Beach, Mount Dora, Neptune Beach, North Port, Oakland Park, Orlando, Pembroke Pines, Sarasota, St. Augustine Beach, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, Tampa, Tequesta, Venice, West Palm Beach, Wellington and Wilton Manors prohibit discrimination in employment for sexual orientation and gender identity in both the private and public sector.
Sarasota County, Cape Coral, Miami Shores and Port St. Lucie prohibit discrimination in employment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the public sector only.
Hypoluxo, Juno Beach, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens and Royal Palm Beach prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in both the private and public sector.
Coral Gables, Fort Lauderdale and Hialeah prohibit discrimination in employment for sexual orientation in the public sector only.
Gender identity and expression
In order for transgender people to change their legal gender in Florida, they must submit an application and affidavit to amend their birth certificate, an affidavit from a physician stating that they have completed sex reassignment surgery in accordance with the appropriate medical procedures, and the payment of the amendment fee.
Hate crime laws
Florida's hate crimes law covers hate crimes based on sexual orientation, but not gender identity.
Conversion therapy
On September 3, 2015, State Representative David Richardson filed a bill to ban the use of conversion therapy on LGBT minors. The bill was introduced to the Florida Legislature on January 12, 2016. However, it died in a House subcommittee on March 11, 2016. A similar bill died in 2017.
Since July 2016, the Florida Department of Children and Families has prohibited facility staff from attempting to change or discourage a child's sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
According to a poll conducted in April 2017, 71% of Floridians support banning conversion therapy for minors, 11% are against banning it and 18% are uncertain.
Local bans
As of April 2017, several cities within Florida have passed their own bans on conversion therapy on minors, such as Miami Beach, Wilton Manors, Miami, North Bay Village, West Palm Beach, Bay Harbor Islands, Lake Worth, El Portal, Key West, Boynton Beach, Tampa, Delray Beach, Riviera Beach and Wellington. Conversion therapy bans have also proposed in other cities and/or counties, such as in Palm Beach County and St. Petersburg.
See also
- LGBT history in Florida
- LGBT rights in the United States
- Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, also called the Johns Committee, which tried to eliminate homosexuals from universities and state employment in Florida, 1956รข€"1965
- Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida, anti-gay pamphlet published by the Johns Committee in 1964, notorious at the time because of its lewd photographs of men engaged in sexual activity
- Politics of Florida
- Law of Florida
- SAVE (SAVE Dade)