Florida's 'Reverse Woke Act' Aims to Hold Leftist Execs 'Accountable' for the Consequences of Their Policies
It’s the gender transition version of “you break it, you bought it.”
Florida Republicans and Gov. Ron DeSantis have made a national name for themselves by standing up to progressive incursions into American life — from critical race theory and sexual dysfunction in schools to Big Tech’s unauthorized surveillance.
Now, under a bill introduced for the upcoming legislative session, the state would be going on offense on one front in the cultural wars, taking the fight directly to companies’ bottom lines.
The “Reverse Woke Act” (SB 952) was introduced Monday by state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, aiming at making companies that buy into the woke agenda now realize they might be paying for it later.
The idea is that companies that cover the costs of employees to complete a “gender transition” must also cover the costs of the employees who decide to stop living a lie and “detransition” back to the life they were born to live.
And that would apply even if the employee is no longer with the company.
“Woke businesses need to be held accountable when offering to pay for gender-affirming surgeries in other states, such as California, because they are nothing more than political decisions masquerading as health care and human resource decisions,” Ingoglia said, according to the National Review.
What’s particularly noteworthy about the bill is that it would require companies to pay for “detransitioning,” regardless of whether the individual in question is still an employee.
As the bill states:
” An employee who received gender dysphoria treatment through coverage provided by an employer is entitled to full coverage by that employer of the total costs associated with treatment that reverses gender dysphoria treatment if the employee later determines that the gender dysphoria treatment was not appropriate for him or her and wants to reverse the treatment, regardless of whether the person is currently employed by that same employer at the time of such determination.”
In other words: You break it, you’re paying to fix it.
The bill would also be in force regardless of where the “transition care” took place.
As WKMG-TV in Orlando reported, the bill comes after Florida, under DeSantis, has already banned Medicaid payments from going toward “gender transition.”
The state’s medical boards have prohibited “transition” treatment for minors.
Those moves were just playing defense, though. Ingoglia’s bill takes the state on the offensive against corporations that are getting caught up in the transgender mania of the current day, giving them a warning: There might be a bill in the future.
And for leftist executives who actually buy the progressive line, it’s a way of hitting the company where it hurts.
As word about Ingoglia’s bill spread, all the usual crazy gripes about “anti-LGBT discrimination” erupted on social media — though comparing a bill to require employees to pay for “detransitioning” to 1930s Nazi Germany seemed extreme even for the lunatic left.
But for many social media users, it was just more welcome news from Florida.
Great idea! Making them take accountability for what they mess up.
— LisaTravels (@Lisa_Travels1) February 22, 2023
They need to add a provision for therapy as well.
Although the therapy could have gone a long way to preventing the problem to start.
— André Chaisson (@ATChaisson) February 22, 2023
God bless Florida
— Denise (@Denise38212502) February 21, 2023
Any one who de-transitions should sue their doctors for a misdiagnosis. To get a sex change a person should have to be diagnosed as needing gender affirming care. Hold the doctors that rubber stamp that accountable & they’ll take their job a little more seriously & ask questions
— commonsense (@commonsense258) February 22, 2023
With liberals and progressives firmly in control of the cultural high grounds — so-called higher education (where Lia Thomas is considered a “woman”), entertainment, the establishment news outlets — it can sometimes look to conservatives like the cultural wars are so one-sided they’re hardly worth fighting.
But then a state like Florida proves that not only are conservative positions defensible, it’s possible to go on the offensive, too. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proved that in his first term by taking on major cultural issues and winning. And the fact that he won re-election in November by 20 points over the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist proved that Florida voters are behind him.
Ingoglia’s bill by itself won’t change the trajectory of American society, of course. With the legislative session not opening until March 7, it’s not even clear it will get through the session and land on DeSantis’ desk.
But it’s a message, loud and clear, that conservatives aren’t through fighting for decency and sanity in American life — not in Florida or anywhere else.
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