The Florida Roundup - Police civilian oversight boards, sports betting clears hurdles and updates on trans healthcare policy in Florida

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

This week on The Florida Roundup, we find out more about the changes to citizen-run police review boards in the wake of a new state law and break down what the new court action, or lack of action, on sports betting means for Florida and the country. Then, the Florida transgender community reacts and responds to a court ruling on state law. Plus, we hear from people at a Juneteenth event in Fort Myers and a Juneteenth historical tour in Central Florida. Later, one gallery exhibits queer joy in honor of Pride Month. And lastly, how love for the sport of hockey has grown in Florida.

This is the Florida Roundup by Matthew Petty. Tom Hudson is out this week. More than two dozen cities and counties in Florida are set to lose their independent civilian-run police oversight under a new state law that takes effect on July 1st. The law stops local governments from letting civilian boards oversee or investigate complaints of police misconduct and it lets police chiefs and county sheriffs form their own boards to review general policies, training, and systemic problems. Here's what Governor DeSantis said when he signed the bill into law back in April.

If you have review boards, that's fine, but it's got to be done in ways where you have the sheriff or chief of police appointing people because the sheriffs and the chief of police, they have an interest in ensuring that their personnel are conducting themselves appropriately as well. But advocates for independent review boards say removing civilian oversight will not help foster trust in the police. Cameron McElhenney is the executive director for the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, a national group. She spoke with WLRN last December. Investigations that are done completely in-house, where information only comes and goes from internal elements to the law enforcement agency,

there just tends to be less trust in that process. agency, there just tends to be less trust in that process. Civilian oversight, it can't fix all of the problems that exist with law enforcement and the relationships with community. But I can tell you, we can't fix any of them without it. Well, we'd like to hear from you. What impact will this law have on relations between police and the community? Will it help take some of the politics out of policing. Give us a call, 305-995-1800, or you can email us at radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Well, for more, we welcome Danny Rivero. He's an investigative reporter for our partner station, WLRN in Miami, where he joins us from now.

Danny, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me, Matthew. are in in Miami where he joins us from now. Danny, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me, Matthew. Also joined by Rodney Jacobs. He leads the City of Miami's Civilian Investigation Panel, the official Civilian-Controlled Police Watchdog Board. Rodney, thank you so much as well. Hey, thanks for having me. Appreciate it. We also reached out to two of the state lawmakers who sponsored the legislation, Republican Representative Wyman Duggan of Jacksonville and Republican Representative Danny Alvarez of Hillsborough

County. Neither responded to our requests, but here's what Duggan said back in February. I understand the sentiment that they helped build community trust. They will be able to continue talking about policies, procedures, training, culture, to continue talking about policies, procedures, training, culture, systemic abuses, patterns, and practices of behavior. All they will not be able to do is receipt, process, and investigate instances of misconduct. All right. So, Danny, let me start with you. How many of these civilian oversight boards are there throughout the state, and just how long have they been in existence? Well, there's a couple of different numbers out there, but it's about two dozen throughout the state at the city and county levels. And the one that's been longest running currently in the state of Florida is in St. Petersburg. That board was formed in 1991.

We have a board here in Miami-Dade County at the county level that was started in 1980. It was disbanded for some amount of time. It's back in operation, but at least since 1980, these things have existed in the state of Florida. Now, you've reported that half of the boards were created following the nationwide protests after the murder of George Floyd. So just kind of put this in context for us. What was the vision for civilian oversight boards created in the aftermath of that? And I guess this kind of broader debate around police brutality. Right. I mean, the general sentiment for a lot of the country and what moved things after the murder of George Floyd, you know, everyone saw it on the video.

It sparked mass, you know, the biggest protest movement that this country has ever known. You know, what came out of that was a lot of people felt like there needs to be more eyes on what is happening in different police departments, more oversight over it, and specifically oversight that is not coming from the police department. Because, you know, as the George Floyd case exemplified, there was a certain narrative that comes out of the police department and people didn't quite trust it. They wanted to have a way to independently do research, pool information, get information from the public, have access to body camera footage,

have access to statements that were made from police and whatnot, and be able to somewhat independently check the work of police departments. So after the murder of George Floyd, I mean, here in the state of Florida and across the country, we saw a huge proliferation of these boards. Many were created. It took some time for some of them to get set up. Some have only recently started meeting, really, because it takes some while to figure out the nuts and bolts of how to put this together. But that was where the state of Florida was and where much of the country was.

And then what we're seeing with the passage of this bill and Governor DeSantis signing it into law is kind of the backlash of a lot of the momentum that started in 2020. Danny, the new law is getting quite a bit of pushback because it essentially strips away a lot of the power of these boards to investigate misconduct. But, I mean, just how much power do they really have? Like for example can they take any action against officers if they do find there has in fact been misconduct?

So the powers vary by jurisdiction. Some boards that are set up by some cities for example have the power to issue subpoenas. Many don't, but what's generally true is that these are boards that are separate from the police department. They don't have the ability to, say, suspend an officer or to issue a particular disciplinary action. You know, a lot of the role that they play in the public sphere is, you know, police departments in whatever city, they don't necessarily have public meetings. They don't talk about things in the open.

So a lot of the... Well, I mean, some of them do. There has been a bit of a push from some police departments, like they have initiatives, like for example, Orlando for a while had coffee with a cop per se to try and sort of foster those good relations, right? That is true. And I'm not saying that there's no community interaction. I'm just saying when it comes to discussing particular cases, there's not typically a system where they go before in a public meeting and discuss and, you know, go over the play by play of what happened in a

particular situation. And that's a lot of the role of what these boards do. They allow the public to come forward, voice frustrations they might've had with the situation, a complaint, and then those things are aired out. And as a member of the media, these boards are very helpful because often they're the ones that give access to body camera footage. They get the disciplinary history of a police officer involved in a certain high profile incident. And you can say, this officer that was involved with this accident has X amount of complaints against them. And you can use that and contextualize what's going on in the police department. And that has become a large part of the role of how they actually work you're listening to the Florida Roundup we're talking about the some big changes to police civilian led police oversight boards you can give us

a call 305 995 1800 also send us an email radio at the Florida Roundup org Rodney Jacobs I want to bring you into this conversation as the leader of Miami's civilian police oversight organization. What do you think of this new law? Well, I think, you know, Danny gave you guys a great summation. I think it's really, really, really unfortunate. You know, after the George Floyd murder, we saw really a worldwide movement to have some level of police accountability and transparency. And I really think here in South Florida and Miami-Dade,

we really led the way for that, reinstituting our oversight panel for the county as well as setting up an oversight unit in North Miami to boot. Obviously, in the city of Miami, we've been functioning now for over 20 years. So we've done a lot of great work in the community and working in collaboration with police departments. And it's unfortunate that we're kind of placed in this situation due to a few legislators in North Florida that really didn't understand the complete landscape of oversight in the work that we do to build better communities.

I want to go to the phones now. We've got Charles on the line from Jacksonville. Charles, you're on the air. Go ahead. Good morning, everybody. Good afternoon. the phones now we've got uh charles on the line from jacksonville charles you're on the air go ahead good morning everybody your afternoon um i find it highly concerning that since george floyd protests the governor and the legislature has systematically moved our um citizen rights to examine his public records on how much he spends for flying around in a state plane and all manner of public records and now removing civilian oversight, you know, these are the actions of the fascist

dictator, let's call it what it is. I'm highly concerned. So you're not in favor of this new law, I take it. Well, I want to thank you for your call. And let me sort of put that to you, Charles. I mean, this notion of oversight, one of the things in this new law that is going to take effect

is that essentially police departments, sheriffs, officers will be able to appoint their own boards. Can police organizations police themselves? Rodney? Yeah, I'm here. I'm sorry. I didn't know who you were directing it towards. I would say that's very convoluted and very complex and even complicated in some jurisdictions. What I would say is that traditionally one of the best benefits of police oversight is this notion of procedural justice, is people that are able to engage

within a process, file a complaint, and feel as though and actually get a fair shake of determining what happened in a case. I know for our board and a lot of other boards around the state, police departments and police chiefs do get an appointment to that civilian panel and we get intake from them. And obviously we work in conjunction in some ways with internal affairs. So it's not like we're completely icing out the police department from this process. I would argue that if you did that, you probably wouldn't get much work accomplished over the years. this process. I would argue that if you did that, you probably wouldn't get much work accomplished over the years. So, you know, it's really incumbent to bolster trust within community. But by allowing police chiefs and sheriffs to do this on their own, without really any community

input, you have a lot of people really questioning the department and obviously looking at layers of accountability. You know, what are you trying to to hide essentially? So one of the biggest benefits of civilian oversight is procedural justice. People need to understand that their police department is there working in their best interest and not necessarily hiding behind closed doors. And if I can add something to this, you know, an interesting part of the discussion here is we're talking about civilian oversight. Part of the discussion here is we're talking about civilian oversight. And, you know, now police chiefs are going to be able to appoint, you know, 100 percent of the people that sit on these boards. The irony is that the boss of the police chiefs is civilians. You know, they're typically overseen by a commission or a council.

Those are civilians. And the commissioners now are the ones that are able to appoint people to many of these seats it's just going to be one step removed i don't is it going to become a question when they're hiring a police chief you know are you interested in having one of these panels etc it's it's it's one step removed from the civilian part but the civilians are still overseeing it on some level 305-995-1800. We're talking about new laws, which will have a big impact on police civilian oversight boards and take away a lot of their power, such as it is at this stage. That law kicks in fairly soon. I want to hear from you. You can also send us an email, radio at thefloridaroundup.org,

or call that number, 305-995-1800. Danny, I wanted to ask you as well. I mean, we had that caller from Jacksonville just a moment ago. There has been an attempt in Jacksonville to establish a civilian oversight board there. What's happened with that? Well, it's basically dead in the water now. You know, some cities like Tampa, for example, have taken moves to, you know, officially abolish their boards. And there's many that haven't taken official action.

But I think once the deadline comes into play July 1st, there's kind of an open question of what they're going to be able to do. I mean, you know, one thing I do want to add here is every city that has one of these boards typically has a story for why that board exists in the first place. in 2001 to form a police oversight board. And that was in response to how the police department handled protests involving the, you know, the removal of Elian Gonzalez back to Cuba in 2000. I mean, you had a huge coalition of Miami voters, including very conservative Cuban American voters, along with members of the black community that were you know there was a separate scandal going on with with the police department this was by popular choice this was really a bipartisan move towards creating this kind of panel and then now in one fell one sweep statewide all those little intricacies of things that happened in one city, why this board came to play, that's just all out the window.

Now it's, you know, all that work that happened years ago kind of doesn't matter anymore. Let's go to Rufus in Orlando. Rufus, you're on the air. Hey, how you doing? Enjoy your show. Thank you. I'm a former police officer from the state of Maryland, decorated for valor in the line of duty. And I think citizens can have valuable input on these boards. board. I think that as one of your panelists just said, it may be one step removed, but I believe citizens are going to have to become a bit more strategic in how they have a voice,

especially when it comes to electing sheriffs in these jurisdictions and having input when a local police department hires a police chief. But I think the police department would be wise to include citizens in their oversight board at some level, although they may have the authority to handpick who they want. They would be wise to include some citizen input as well. Thank you. Rufus, thanks so much for your call. Let me put that to you, Rodney. What about that strategy? How do you see this evolving from here on out with this new law? Yeah, listen, I think that that caller is spot on to some respects. And although I understand what Danny is saying, that elected citizen officials are somehow overseeing the police department.

But you got to understand that that process in and of itself is right with politics. And oftentimes when politics gets involved, you have a lot of different special interest groups that can pull someone one way or another. And I'm not necessarily here to make a determination on that in and of itself. to make a determination on that in and of itself. But what I can say is that by having citizens a part of this process, at least in the city of Miami, it has done a benefit for our city. I think oftentimes when you look at community police relationships,

and Danny mentioned it here in Miami with Ileana Gonzalez or even with the McDuffie riots, the community wants a police department that they can interact with and understand the intricacies of their work. And far too often, we haven't seen that nationwide. In some cases, it takes a catastrophe to happen in order to get that input. So I'm not confident or certain that if civilian oversight were removed completely, that we would get that type of interaction

voluntarily by police departments. I think it's really concerning by just eradicating it based upon some of what we've seen in Tallahassee to really say, we can do these things on our own now because history has proven that that hasn't been the case. Just in the last minute or so here, Rodney, does your board have a function from July 1st? Will it dissolve completely? What happens? No. So we're still trying to work through some of the nuances of the law. We do believe that there are some workarounds. As I think Wayman has said in his statements there, the representative from Duval,

there's still a host of work we can do in Miami. We have the first ever community police mediation program that will continue. We'll still review departmental orders and procedures. We'll essentially be an audit form of oversight where we still can receive internal affairs investigations and hopefully review those and still work with the police department. internal affairs investigations and hopefully review those and still work with the police department. But some of this is really going to be incumbent upon, you know, city and county attorneys as well as the police department. You know, although we are a chartered entity, cities can violate the charter, as we've seen, and say we want to abolish you anyway. So I still think we have obviously a role and a place, and I think the community obviously still wants us here. But we're going to have to work towards that end together.

We've been speaking with Rodney Jacobs, leading the City of Miami Civilian Investigation Panel. Rodney, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it. I appreciate you. Take care. And Danny Rivero, investigative reporter for our partner station WLRN in Miami. Danny, thank you so much. Thank you, Matt. Up next,

a judge has blocked Florida's law restricting gender-affirming care. What impact will that have? An update on Sports Betting 2. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. This is the Florida Roundup by Matthew Petty. Coming up, we're going to take a closer look at the potential impact of a judge's decision to block a Florida law that restricts health care for transgender adults and children. But first, an update on online sports betting in Florida. The Seminole Tribe will keep control of online sports betting throughout the state. That's after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a challenge to the multi-billion dollar sports betting compact between the state of Florida and the tribe. The compact, signed in 2021, gives the Seminole tribe exclusive rights to sports betting in Florida for 30 years. In return, the tribe will pay the state about $20 billion.

Lawyers for two Florida pari-mutual companies, Benita Fort Myers Corp and West Flagler Associates, argued the deal violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. For more, we spoke via Zoom with Daniel Wallach. He's the founder of Wallach Legal, a law firm in Hallandale Beach focused on gambling and sports betting laws. He said for now, anyway, parimutuel companies in Florida have only one option if they want to get into sports betting. These parimutuel would be able to have in-person sports books at their tracks and would be able to have online sports betting. But there are two important caveats here. The paramutuals would have to pay over to the Seminole Tribe a revenue share associated with that sports betting of 40 percent. Forty cents of every dollar of revenue are going

to be allocated to the Seminole Tribe and they get to keep only 60 cents. And moreover, they don't get to operate their own websites. They've essentially been relegated to nothing more than marketing partners of the Seminole tribe. Wallach said because the Supreme Court declined to accept jurisdiction and hear the case on its merits, it leaves in place an appeals court ruling that's sided with the Seminole tribe, and that has implications for tribes in other states. It will catalyze tribal online gaming in a number of other jurisdictions because for the first time since IGRA was enacted there is now a federal court federal appeals court ruling which paves the way for tribes and states to include online sports betting and iGaming within state tribal compacts. And IGRA by the

way is the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. That's the federal law that passed in 1988 that regulates gaming on tribal land. Wallach said companies that brought the lawsuit in Florida still have some other legal cards to play in both the state and federal courts. In the meantime, he said this decision empowers the Seminole tribe to negotiate an amended compact that could include internet casino games, iGaming, in the next two to three years. And that could open up opportunities for other companies to be

part of online sports betting. So I would look not too far down the road for iGaming not only to be on deck, but to become an eventuality in Florida and probably no later than 2027, making Florida, you know, sort of the largest digital gaming state in the country. Well, that was Daniel Wallach, founder of Wallach Legal, a law firm in Hallandale Beach, focused on gambling and sports betting laws. We're turning now to another recent court decision on how it will impact Floridians. Last week, a federal judge blocked Florida from enforcing a law that bans gender-affirming care for minors and restricts it for adults. Judge Robert Hinkle found the law, Senate Bill 254, and the related medical board rules violated the equal protection rights of transgender individuals and parents of minors in Florida.

The state of Florida is appealing the ruling. Florida's restrictions on gender-affirming care have had a chilling effect. In a survey last year by the Human Rights Campaign, the majority of trans and non-binary Floridians surveyed said they had thought about leaving or had made plans to leave the state. So what difference will this ruling make? We'd like to hear from you. Call 305-995-1800.

You can also send us an email. We're at radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Well, I want to welcome to the show Daylena Miller, who covers trans issues, among other things, for WSF. Daylena, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. And also joined by Axios reporter Catherine Vahn. Catherine, thank you. Thanks for having me. Daylena, let me start with you. Judge Henkel called the law unconstitutional.

Just remind us how the law restricts health care for transgender individuals. Who does it apply to? What kind of care specifically? Sure. So SB 254 codified into law the ban on gender-affirming care for minors, with the exception of patients that were already undergoing treatment, created criminal, and civil penalties for medical providers. And then for adults, it required that care be provided exclusively by physicians as opposed to like nurse practitioners.

Barred telehealth and required patients to sign a series of new consent, informed consent forms that were medically inaccurate and contained a lot of transphobic language. So patients are already required to sign informed consent forms. So, yeah, so it, you know, it codified into law all of these things that, you know, the Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine had been discussing in a series of meetings and really effectively banned, you know, transgender health care for a lot of adults because of all the restrictions that made it difficult to access care. How did this law come about? Well, it's been a long time in the making.

For years now, we've seen a lot of bans on people using the bathrooms that they're more comfortable using with transgender people participating in sports, both in the K-12 levels, college, and professionally. And while I'm not going to speculate on Governor DeSantis' personal motivations for these sorts of laws, he has long campaigned and run his office on a platform of parental rights and protecting children. And, you know, the GOP lawmakers in the state and across the country, you know, have publicly said that, you know, ending health care access for trans people, not just children, but also adults, is the end game. So you've spent quite a bit of time reporting on how this law has affected the community. What have you been hearing from them? I mean, I know it's just kind of, you know, the judge's decision only came out last week,

so not that much time to process what's going on here, but what are you hearing? Yeah, absolutely. There's been a lot of excitement from trans Floridians in terms of being supported by somebody like U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, who said in his ruling that gender identity is real. So he's affirming the identities of folks across the state and the nation with this ruling. But there's still a lot of concern that the appeal from the state is going to be won, in which case all of these components of SB 254 will go back into place, making it difficult for folks. And while

some clinics in Central Florida have resumed gender-affirming care for folks now that this law has been blocked, putting in place the infrastructure to help this subset of the population can be very expensive, and some are hesitant to do so when it may be overturned again. And Catherine Vaughn, if I could bring you into this conversation, I mean, the law has already had a big impact on transgender Floridians, as Daylenor has been kind of outlining. So how big a deal is this ruling, do you think? Yeah, I think it's a really big deal. It's a big victory for trans people and their advocates. It's been a tough few years to be queer in Florida, especially trans.

And so I think, you know, it can't be understated that, you know, this is a moment, a good moment in a in a several years of of bad moments um but as zalina said you know the state is appealing and they are also they also filed a motion to block basically to put a stay to to block judge hinkle's ruling while the appeal is playing out so you know not only are we looking at potentially them you know know, winning the appeal and rolling back this ruling, but rolling back the ruling while the appeal is playing out. So there's still, you know, a lot of uncertainty in the landscape. And, you know, certainly a feeling that there's, you know, we're not out of the woods yet, you know, as a, you know, trans-Falardian seeking healthcare, but, you know, this has been a step in the right direction

for trans-Falardians and their advocates, for sure. Speaking of, you know, what it's like to seek healthcare, Catherine, you'd done some reporting not too long ago about the impacts of these restrictions on transgender healthcare. Teens, for example, have to drive further to access care. So what about that and what are some of the other impacts that you've seen and reported on? Yeah, I think the convenience aspect is huge, having to go further. This care is already not exactly like widely available and involves a lot of time and time with doctors to sort of, you know, develop the best course of care for you as the patient. So it's already a bit of a process. And then, yeah, the fewer practitioners there are, you know, the less the less convenience and options there are for you as a resident. And, you know, a huge

portion of adult care was being provided by nurse practitioners. I believe some practitioners did, you know, kind of did an estimate and it was somewhere in the realm of like 80% of adult patients were seeing nurse practitioners, which SB 254 illegalized. It required you to see a physician in person to receive gender affirming care. So people who were going to their clinic to see a nurse practitioner could no longer do that. I know a clinic in Central Florida Spectrum Health

that's kind of been very vocal in this area about kind of keeping everyone updated on how they're processing all these changes. They posted on Facebook that they hired a physician in April to handle patients. So they were able to continue seeing people through that avenue. But that's one physician. So it's certainly affected care. And there's been a lot of confusion as well, especially on the adult restrictions as far as like what is allowed, what isn't allowed. And that's had a chilling effect, certainly on practitioners and patients, you know, struggling to find a physician who can help them. 305-995-1800 is the number if you want to call and talk about how this,

how you think this ruling from the judge blocking Florida's law restricting health care for transgender individuals in Florida, what impact that will have. You can also send us an email, radio at thefloridaroundup.org. Dalina, back to you. I mean, what are you hearing from health care providers? I've had several therapists this week in particular reach out to me and ask me for clarification on the informed consent rules, so on the informed consent forms. So there's still a lot of misinformation circulating. Even health care providers are a little bit uneasy with the various cases and litigation and the various components of this law and the accompanying rules that were passed by the boards last year. So it's very complicated. And, you know, and there's

a lot of there's a lot of misunderstanding, too, about what's meant about gender affirming care, even when it comes to doctors. A lot of doctors are not super familiar with transgender health care. So this this ruling in particular applies to puberty blockers and to, you know, into hormone replacement therapy, which in Florida has not only been a treatment for transgender people for many years, but it's also, those are also treatments used in cisgender people. You know, women who have polycystic ovary syndrome for example might be undergoing hormone replacement therapy so as the judge Hinkle pointed out in you know in his ruling you can't really say that these are not safe treatments when they're being used with full approval from the state for cisgender

people too so and then surgery was never on the table in this ruling. It's extremely, extremely rare for transgender children to be getting surgery like double mastectomies. That's typically something that happens to adults. And a lot of health care for trans people, it can take more than a year to access to go through the process of, you know, meeting with mental health therapists and primary care providers and endocrinologists to actually get this care. But a lot of health care providers themselves are not super up to speed on what is encompassing when it comes to gender-affirming care. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida public radio station. So it sounds like for some folks in terms of the medical practitioners who may have been kind of struggling to wrap their heads around this anyway, this may not necessarily clarify things for them.

Yeah. And, you know, and like Catherine said, there are some folks that are hiring physicians to provide this care, but there's a chilling effect on other clinics and hospitals. And then, you know, we're facing a presidential election this year, too. So, you know, former President Trump has, you know, during campaign stops, discussed his plans for the LGBTQ community, in particular, with trans individuals. So there's a lot of different components in play that could affect Floridians. Let's go to Elle in Longwood. Al, you're on the air. You know, I'm a new resident here to the state of Florida from Massachusetts, and it strikes us, both my wife and I, it's unfortunate, but it strikes us that the governor wakes up every day

and he finds ways to hurt constituencies from, you know, from, you know, women's rights to transgender rights to, you know, to workers' rights with water breaks. I mean, I just, it kind of baffles us as new people. You're kind of horrified by it. I know that this ruling strikes down what he tried to do, but what is going on here as a new resident? We're really freaked out by this. I mean, is this what the state of Florida is all about? Al, I hear you loud and clear. Thanks for your call. Appreciate it.

Well, Catherine, let me kind of talk to you about the politics of this for a moment, if we could. There's obviously some pushback from state officials about the judge's ruling. What are those state officials saying about that? And obviously they're appealing this. what what have you heard from them yeah so uh rhetoric coming from the state around this issue and coming from governor desantis and uh surgeon general joseph ladapo uh is that this these kinds of laws are to protect children uh from they've used the word mutilation and i think that um to really underscore daylena's point that surgery is to the extent surgery is happening to to youth it's older teenagers like 16 17 year olds and it's really not happening

like hardly at all. So to describe gender affirming care that way is not accurate. And but, you know, it's a it's a very effective to a certain population, you know, rallying cry to say, you know, we're protecting children from from this harm that, again, is being described inaccurately. But if you're not familiar with how gender affirming care works and how frequently it is carried out and things like that, like that maybe sounds good to you. And yeah, I want to protect kids. So it has a lot of similarities, too, to a lot of the rhetoric around like gay marriage when there was an effort to legalize gay marriage, which did happen under the Supreme Court ruling in 2015. But it's sort of this this idea of what

about the children and protecting kids from this sort of, you know, nebulous harm within the LGBTQ community that, again, the evidence doesn't really bear out. Daylina, just in the last minute or so that we have here, I mean, what's the process for these laws to play out? And do you have a sense of how long it'll take? I mean, it could take more than a year. The three-day trial for Doe v. Latipo was in December, and we didn't get the ruling until this month. You know, it's hard to say exactly how long it's going to take to um to actually play out in the 11th circuit court of appeals um it's hard to say exactly when the um motion seeking a stay

by the store by the um by the state could go into play as well if that's passed um but this is something that's going to happen pretty slowly there are a lot of other related cases being litigated by groups like Southern Legal Counsel that are part of this case that all kind of interact with one another and affect transgender care and access in Florida. So we're looking at something that's going to play out over the course of at least a year or more. Well, I want to thank both of our guests this afternoon, Dalena Miller with our partner station WSF in Tampa and Catherine Vahn

a reporter for the Axios Tampa Bay newsletter. Thank you so much both and lots more to keep tabs on as this situation plays out. Coming up next how Floridians marked Juneteenth, celebrating LGBTQ plus art and history in St. Petersburg and hockey fever grips

South Florida. You are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida public radio station. This is the Florida Roundup. I'm Matthew Petty. Events were held across the state this week to commemorate Juneteenth. While the national holiday was observed on Wednesday, June 19th, many celebrations kicked off over the weekend. From our partner station WGCU in Fort Myers, Bryant Montae has more. The sound of celebration filled the air at Roberto Clemente Park in Fort Myers on Saturday as dozens of people came together to recognize a day that represents freedom for all. Opal Lee is recognized as the grandmother of Juneteenth. She helped to make the day a national holiday.

Janice Cass, founder of the Lee County Black History Society, shares about Opal Lee's vision. Her belief is that this holiday is for all Americans and really for all people because it's about freedom and democracy. We are not free until all of us are free. Community activist Jerry Ware talks about the importance of the holiday. It's important because we've got to know our history because we don't know where we came from. We won't know where we're going. Juneteenth represents June 19th in 1865 where slaves in Texas received word from Union troops that they were free by executive decree. However, May 20th is Emancipation Day in Florida. Charles Barnes is chairman of the board for the Lee County Black History Society and explains.

Juneteenth really was a day in Texas. May 20th, the day in Florida. Some folks had a disagreement that Juneteenth should be the National Reserve Day because there were so many other different days. But you had to pick a day. During the event inside the History Museum, actors helped to bring a bit of the past to life. Oh, Mr. Lincoln sure was a wonderful man. He did what God sent him here to do, to take bondage of the colored people and to set them all free.

For the little ones in attendance, like five-year-old Omarion, it's all about one thing. What is today the celebration? Um, to play. To play? Juneteenth? You heard of Juneteenth? Yeah. What does that mean to you? It means I want to bounce on that.

You want to bounce on that? Yeah. It was the bouncy ball that meant more to him than my questions. No matter the age, Juneteenth represents a celebration of life, freedom, and in many ways, those things that unite us. I'm Bryant Montae. In addition to the festivities, the week offered many opportunities to learn more about the history of Juneteenth and Florida's Black History. About 40 people took a bus tour of important Black History sites around central Florida last weekend ahead of Juneteenth.

Yolanda Powell, who was there with her 13-year-old daughter, Caitlin, says the tour lit a fire within her to change the way black history is taught. It is imperative that they know about it. I asked my daughter, you know, what are you guys learning in history? What are they teaching you at school? And like she said, it's just the general basic stuff. June also marks Pride Month, a time to celebrate members of the LGBTQ community. For the occasion, an art exhibit in St. Petersburg is putting a spotlight on queer joy. To bring us that story is Tyler Luginski with our partner station WUSF in Tampa. It's 1962 at a Girl Scout camp in Bayport, Long Island. Among the hushed whispers of the campers attending a beach sleepover, a young Meryl Meisler hears talks of a nearby island

straight out of a fairy tale. These girls were whispering about something and pointing out to the ocean and talking about a place called Fire Island, where there were naked fairies who lived in little houses with names like Shirley Temple. Flash forward to the late 1970s. Meisler is working as a freelance artist, photographing some of New York City's most infamous discos when she meets a man named Barnett. We had met through mutual friends, I think at Studio 54, and Barnett invited me to come out to his place in Fire Island. I did not know what to expect. Arrive out there for the weekend, and I was completely stunned and surprised,

pleasantly surprised. This trip would spark a lasting connection between Meisler and Fire Island's coastal communities of the Pines and Cherry Grove. Over her summer getaways, Meisler would document her days spent on those shores, which are still known as an escape for the LGBTQ plus community. Many of the photographs that you took in the 70s during your experience there really captures the subjects in a way that feels very present and grounded. Was there any intention in the style of photographs you were taking or did that kind of evolve through your experience there? This was the style of photography I was doing then and now as well, that I don't specifically in general go to photograph, I photograph where I'm going.

So these are mine. It's like, I didn't realize at the time, like a visual diary, I tend to ask to photograph people who are exuding joy, happiness, look like they're having a good time that this is, And this is in retrospect, I realize that's what I've always looked for. People literally exuding pride in who they are. The photographs would go unpublished for decades until recent efforts gave the images new life. Can you provide a little bit of an explanation as to how these photos ended up in St. Pete? explanation as to how these photos ended up in St. Pete. I started going through my archives and showing my work and had the opportunity to have books. And one of the books was about comparing suburbia and the city. It included some of these Far Island pictures. They started getting notice,

getting a lot of press. The photos eventually caught the attention of Robert Bonanno, the president and creator of the Fire Island Pines Historical Preservation Society, was looking to move to St. Petersburg. My work with Fire Island, I'm moving it into a place of advocacy. I realized that the symbolism of Fire Island, and especially in the world today where people are suppressing who you are and who you could be, represented all of that. It represented a place where you can be yourself and you can be who you want. So I decided that maybe I could bring this sense of advocacy to St. Petersburg, putting together this Fire Island photo exhibit on a bigger scale. Bonanno connected with Matthew and Fritz Fallhaber, owners of the Work Gallery in the Warehouse Arts District.

Together, they created an exhibit featuring Meisler's prints, the first time they've ever been on display. Fritz says that Fire Island and St. Pete have quite a lot in common. There's a lot of queer history in St. Petersburg that I don't want to even say is unrecognized, but isn't necessarily part of the main conversation a lot of the time. But there is a direct historical correspondence as well, I'd say. The exhibit features several never-before-seen images, including a portrait

of gay rights activist and drag performer Stormy DeLavier. For Meisler, the images speak for themselves. They're fantastic images. They're art. They're beautiful. They make me smile, and I think they make other people's trials. They make you think. They're worthy of being shown and collected. And for Fire Island in St. Petersburg, these images may just be a testament to the importance of cultivating a community open to personal and creative expression. I'm Tyler Luginski in Tampa.

I'm Matthew Petty, and you are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. Despite our year-round warm climate and lack of any natural ice, passion for ice hockey is growing. From our partner station WGCU in Fort Myers, Sandra Victorova has this report. And the Everblades, Riley takes it now on the right wing. Head man feed. Wedman scores! It's a three-peat! A three-peat!

A three-peat! A sold-out crowd in Estero watches the Florida Everblades do what no team has done before in the East Coast Hockey League. A team of destiny! Now a three-peat dynasty! in the East Coast Hockey League. A team of destiny! Now a three-peak dynasty! It can't get much better for the Everblades. Three straight championships,

and the team continues to break attendance records at Hertz Arena. You know, we have a pretty good core of fans from, really, from Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, straight down to Marco Island. So our reach is pretty significant and pretty big. We even have season ticket holders from Orlando. That's Chris Palin. He's the Everblades executive vice president and chief revenue officer. He says their 7,600 seat arena is averaging about 86 percent attendance. The longer run certainly helps ticket sales and it's going to help build numbers for next year. Jim Haverstrom, a USA hockey coach for Florida, says the hockey crowds are changing. They used to say, oh, it's just all the snowbirds coming down.

Now it's the actual population are just so hooked on it themselves. Haverstrom says the recent success of the major and minor teams is translating to the growth of the sport in our state. For the last five years, a Florida-based team has been in the Stanley Cup playoffs. So that means more access for people to watch. There's more excitement that goes around the areas. And again, in Fort Myers, the Everblades have had such a strong fan base. But again, Florida is really kind of fickle.

If you don't win, they don't come out as often. Haverstrom sees a bright picture for the growth of hockey in Florida. The area is attracting better coaching and local talent are making it to the NHL. And as the latest bout of hockey fever rises in Florida, he says more people, young and old, will want to play the sport. USA Hockey, the national ice hockey governing organization, says they've seen nearly a 50% increase in Florida USA Hockey membership since 2016. Here's Everblades Palin again.

Our recreational and travel program is booming. I mean, we've never had more teams. Palin knows a three-peat is a unique moment and opportunity. And the Everblades and their fans witness history tonight. I don't know if it'll ever happen again at this level, but our goal now is to create even more history and make it four in a row. The team's success could actually be a challenge in some ways. It shines a light on their top talent,

which can mean losing players to leagues abroad or the American Hockey League, a step below the NHL. That's why Palin says the entire Everblades team has to work on more than just winning. It's about delivering a fun experience for the fans. You can't control what happens on the ice. You can't control everything else. So if Johnny is a hockey fan, but Susieie isn't or vice versa, if they see themselves on the scoreboard and they're dancing and they get to see Swampy, the mascot, or they win something or they're part of a promotion, that's as important as what happens on the ice. A lot of times they don't remember whether the team won or lost. They remember the experience.

the ice, a lot of times they don't remember whether the team won or lost. They remember the experience. In Fort Myers, I'm Sandra Viktorova. Chances are likely South Floridians will remember who wins game six of the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers in the running. The team is still just one game away from winning the trophy as they lost five to3 to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 on Tuesday night. Game 6 is tonight. That's our program for today. The Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF Public Media in Tampa. The show is produced by Bridget O'Brien and Grayson Docter. WLRN's Vice President of Radio and our Technical Director is Peter Mertz.

Engineering help from Doug Peterson, Charles Michaels and Blake Bass. Richard Ives answers the phones. Our theme music is provided by Miami jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at aaronleibos.com. If you missed any of today's show, you can download it and past programs at wlrn.org slash podcasts. Tom Hudson will be back next week.

Thanks for calling in and listening.