This new Republican bill is a thinly-veiled attempt to make LGBTQ+ content a felony

A Florida bill targeting “groomers” appears to be the state’s latest attempt to criminalize the existence of LGBTQ+ people and content.

The one-page bill, H.B. 1135, makes the act of “lewd or lascivious grooming” a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

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“A person who engages in the process of preparing or encouraging a child to engage in sexual activity through overtly sexually themed communication with the child or in conduct with or observed by the child without permission from the child’s parent or legal guardian commits lewd or lascivious grooming,” it reads.

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While LGBTQ+ content is not explicitly mentioned in the bill, Republicans have popularized using “groomer” as an anti-LGBTQ+ slur, with many claiming that any exposure to LGBTQ+ identities is a sexualization and grooming of children. The right-wing “parent’s rights” movement argues that almost any mention of LGBTQ+ identities in books and other content is akin to pornography, even if those books or content are completely non-sexual.

The bill’s sponsors have made it clear their beliefs align with this way of thinking. State Rep. Taylor Yarkosky (R), a lead sponsor of the legislation, has previously referred to drag as “evil grooming” and child abuse.

According to trans activist Erin Reed, Yarkosky and the bill’s other sponsor, State Rep. Doug Bankson (R), allegedly consulted with the anti-LGBTQ+ Christian Family Coalition of Florida to create the bill. An October social media post from the organization touted meeting the two lawmakers and 14 others to discuss “tough anti-grooming legislation” and protecting public employees from “the imposition of LGBT ideology.”

Should the bill pass the legislature, it’s likely anti-LGBTQ+ Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) would sign it. On X, Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’s Rapid Response Director for his 2024 Presidential Campaign, called the introduction of the bill “great news.”

If passed into law, the bill would continue Florida’s path to virtually criminalizing anything LGBTQ+. Book bans in the state have already resulted in thousands of books being yanked from school libraries, and the infamous Don’t Say Gay bill has severely limited what teachers can say to students about LGBTQ+ people. In October, DeSantis even compared LGBTQ+-inclusive elementary school teachers to Hamas fighters who have gunned down and kidnapped Israeli civilians.

“I have seen the Left’s indoctrination dangerously worsen in the last couple of decades — from student organizations praising Hamas at Ivy Leagues to elementary school teachers pushing radical gender ideology down the throats of first graders,” DeSantis’ message said, according to Florida Politics.