JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Northeast Florida lawmaker wants to legally define the words "man" and "woman" based on biological sex at birth.
Jacksonville Rep. Dean Black filed the proposed What Is A Woman Act this week, which would also impose new requirements related to transgender individuals on state agencies and insurance companies.
Black believes it's become necessary to clarify that “sex is dictated by biology.”
Along with defining terms like “female and “male,” the proposed legislation aims to replace the word "gender" with "sex" on state legal documents.
Black said there should be nothing controversial about it.
"From time immemorial, we have known that your sex was dictated by your biology,” Black said. “All I am doing is putting into Florida Statute, what we have always known, and only recently, a few people have become confused about."
House Bill 1233 requires state agencies to revoke any identification cards, like driver's licenses, that don't match up with a person's sex on their birth certificate.
Equality Florida’s Senior Policy Advisor Carlos Guillermo Smith said they're prepared to fight the bill at the capitol this legislative session.
"Threatening to revoke driver licenses from transgender men and transgender women is about denying their legal existence,” Smith said. “It's about bullying them out of public life, and ultimately, out of the state of Florida entirely."
It would also force private insurance companies that offer transition surgery coverage to pay for de-transitioning procedures.
"A lot of people having undergone that surgery later have regrets and want to revert back to what they were born to be," Black said.
Smith said this isn't true.
"A study that was published by Johns Hopkins University suggests that less than 1% of transgender and non-binary folks regret transitioning," Smith said.
LGBTQ+ groups say this "attack" is nothing new for their community.
"It is an ugly, mean, spirited bill that helps no one,” Smith said, “and it should be voted down and rejected by lawmakers for what it is."
Black stands by his proposed law.
"I believe it the right thing for all Floridians," Black said.
The next step is for the bill to be assigned to committees and go through the legislative process. It will also need a senate bill counterpart, which Black said he’s expecting to be filed soon.