Trans kids throw underwear with slogans like “leave my genitals alone” at Florida GOP lawmakers

On Wednesday, Florida’s House of Representatives passed three anti-transgender bills, one of which could put parents’ custody of their trans kids in jeopardy. The move came a day after a protest at the state Capitol building that reportedly resulted in several trans and nonbinary children being temporarily separated from their parents and guardians.

Also, trans kids and parents came up with a novel approach to protesting the state legislature’s attempts to increase regulation of their bodies.

Related:

Florida bill seeks to take trans kids away from affirming parents

One activist called it “state sponsored kidnapping.”

S.B. 254 would make it illegal for doctors in Florida to provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth. It would also allow the state’s courts to modify custody agreements, redefining “serious physical harm” to a child to include gender-affirming healthcare.

The version of the bill that was passed by the state senate earlier this month also empowers the state to take “temporary emergency jurisdiction over a child present in the state if the child is subjected to or is threatened with being subjected to” gender-affirming care. PinkNews reports that the version of the bill passed by the Florida House on Wednesday no longer includes the “temporary emergency jurisdiction” language.

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As state lawmakers debated the bill on Tuesday, demonstrators, including both adults and children in the legislative gallery, pelted Florida House Republicans with underwear bearings slogans like “leave my genitals alone” and “fascism has no place in Florida/Stop trans genocide.”

Video posted to social media shows underwear landing on the heads and desks of Republican lawmakers.

Following the protest, parents and guardians who were present in the gallery with their trans and nonbinary children were reportedly separated from those children, the youngest of whom was reportedly 12 years old. TikTok user and trans activist Kyle, who posts as @bananabreadmuff1n, was present outside the gallery filming a livestream. A clip from the livestream shows two men blocking the doors to the gallery as parents chant “Let them go!” and “kidnappers!”

Kyle later explained that the protesters were detained following the stunt, with the parents apparently being escorted out of the gallery where their children remained.

In a follow-up video posted on Wednesday, Kyle said that the parents and children were reunited, while one adult protester was arrested.

As The New Republic notes, an amended version S.B. 254 now goes back to the state senate for a final vote before heading to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) desk. DeSantis is reportedly likely to sign the bill into law.