L.A. County Board of Supervisors restricts traveling to Florida and Texas.
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors suspended travel to Texas and Florida last week. This decision came due to the recent policies that the two states of Texas and Florida have introduced against LGBTQ+ communities.
The people who are affected by the ban are those who are traveling by the L.A.’s taxpayer funding for the conduct of county business. L.A. County has put in place similar travel bans in the past for other states that have passed laws that are against L.A. county’s interests.
In a meeting on April 5, L.A. county supervisor Sheila Kuehl stated that this travel restriction sends a message to Florida and Texas for their policies that are unacceptable to L.A. county’s favorable position towards the LGBTQ+ community.
The L.A. county board of directors considers the policies of Texas and Florida as transphobia and homophobia. The policy that was introduced in Florida by Gov. Ron Desantis is directed at the LGBTQ+ community by prohibiting schools from discussing the topic of gender orientation from kindergarten to third grade.
The bill specifies that such topics of sexual orientation matters should not be discussed to children at an early age. The “Parental Rights in Education Act” was signed into law on March 28.
As for the Gov. of Texas, Greg Abbott, he introduced an order to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate families of transgender children because the children were treated with medical procedures of puberty blockers, hormone therapy and gender confirmation surgery in minors.
On March 11, a judge halted the governor’s order temporarily. On April 8, Texas
Attorney General Ken Paxton said that the governor’s order is legal. Therefore, the order of the investigation will be resumed. Many fear that a lot of states will pursue this measure against parents with transgender children across conservative states.
For this reason, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors are outraged with the measurements that are seen in Texas and Florida.
“As we’ve done in the past where states have enacted some egregious laws that contravene everything that we have done in L.A. County and in California, this motion calls for a travel ban on all travel to these states,” L.A. County Sheila Kuehl said. She also stated, “We’re not gonna spend our money going to your states and it sends a message that we won’t support this egregious behavior.” Kuehl called the order “discriminatory, harmful and deliberately cruel.”
L.A. Supervisor Hilda Solis also expressed her concern of the two state’s policies against LGBTQ+ youths. Solis has family members that are transgender and therefore, she is offended with the decision of Texas and Florida’s policies that are discriminatory according to her point of view.
“I too come from a family that has parents whose children are LGBTQ+, and I know what it was for them to raise their children and even to talk amongst our own larger family, and how important it is to support each other and in particularly these young people who are trying to live out their best in life,” Solis said.
According to “The Independent,” in 2022, the LGBTQ+ community has seen the most anti-LGBTQ+ legislation policies across the board. It is unclear what the future of these pieces of legislation signify for the LGBTQ+ community.