Young activists hold "die-in" demonstration at DMV: "They just perpetuate violence against trans people"

MIAMI, FL — Young activists held a "die-in" demonstration at a South Florida DMV Friday morning. Organizers from PRISM, a youth-led LGBTQ+ organization and the Youth Action Fund held this demonstration after the DeSantis administration, through a DMV memo, banned transgender individuals in Florida from possessing ID cards and driver's licenses that mark their gender identity. The organizers say that the memo is designed to further marginalize trans people. The organizers held their demonstration at the Miami Central DMV near Miami International Airport (MIA), and at DMVs in Orlando, Tampa, and Gainesville. Protestors were to "lie dead" for 37 minutes, which symbolizes the 37% of trans Floridians who have faced violence and harassment due to an incorrect gender marking on their state IDs and driver's licenses.

Maxx Fenning, who is the Executive Director of PRISM and an organizer of the die-in demonstration told The County that the demonstration was organized to stand in solidarity with the transgender community in Florida, a community that has been under the fist of Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida GOP for the past 6 years. "It is very clear that this memo and SB 1639 is out of touch with reality. They don't talk about stuff our people care about, they just perpetuate violence against trans people, marginalized people". SB 1639 is legislation that would require individuals to identify as their sex assigned at birth instead of their gender on their driver’s licenses and ID cards. It would also require health insurance companies to cover the controversial and discredited practice of conversion therapy. The bill was introduced by Rep. Doug Bankson, R-Apopka, and was passed by party lines through a Florida House panel just two weeks ago. Bankson says the legislation's aim is to "make sure we are not mandating a coverage but rather bringing a parity to the coverage that exists."

A number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in the Florida Legislature for the 2024 legislative session, including HB 599 and SB 1382 which would ban state and local governments, non-profit organizations, and contractors that receive state money from recognizing their employees’ preferred gender pronouns if those pronouns are different from their sex assigned at birth. These measures are set to move through the legislature and to Governor Ron DeSantis' desk. He has pledged to sign them into law. If passed and signed into law by the governor, the laws would take effect July 1, 2024.

They don't talk about stuff our people care about, they just perpetuate violence against trans people, marginalized people." -Maxx Fenning

The proposed legislation has led a group of eight U.S. lawmakers from Florida to say they've had enough. Led by U.S. Representative Maxwell Frost (D-Orlando), the lawmakers penned a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, calling on the federal government to intervene. The lawmakers are demanding that the Department of Homeland Security pursue rule making under the Real ID Act that would require an individual's gender/sex identifier on state identification to match the gender on on their federal identification documents. Under current U.S. policy, an individual's gender marking is listed on their passport.

Protestors are hoping for better outcomes and an end to state-sponsored bullying. However, Gov. Ron DeSantis' rapid response director and radical internet troll Christina Pushaw took to social media to bully the Youth Action Fund and organizers of the die-in, attacking the young protestors by saying that "biology is not their best subject." Pushaw is in support of the measure, stripping transgender people in Florida of yet another set of protections. Fenning believes that this, like other acts taken by the DeSantis administration over the years, is not a real issue. "This is to the benefit of no one and only to the detriment of trans people. They deserve to have an ID that reflects them and who they are."