florida
Florida could finally overturn gay adoption ban
Earlier this week, two Florida lawmakers introduced legislation to overturn the state’s ban on gay adoptions, something the legislature hasn’t debated in the law’s 33-year history.
Florida’s legislature brought up the subject of gay adoption for the first time in 33 years as two lawmakers, Charlie Justice in the Senate, and Scott Randolph in the House, introduced amendments that would have prohibited discrimination in that area.
Florida, which enacted its ban in 1977 — two years before the first reported case of an adoption by an openly gay person anywhere in the country — is the only state to explicitly prohibit gays and lesbians from adopting children.
Read more: Think Progress)
TV shows with gay characters could lose Florida tax credits
A new bill being considered for Florida could mean that television shows or films with gay characters within them that are shot in the state could miss out on vital tax credits because they are not deemed “family friendly”.
Current state law grants tax credits on productions considered “family friendly” - with no smoking, sex, nudity or profane language.
The proposal by Republican Rep. Stephen Precourt of Orlando would expand the field of disqualified productions as those that include any “exhibit or implied act” of nontraditional family values and gratuitous violence.
Stephen Precourt told the Palm Beach Post that shows with gay characters were not “the kind of thing I’d say that we want to invest public dollars in”.
