—Sponsored Florida’s SB1834 discriminatory, anti-LGBTQ bill, commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
—Sponsored an anti-transgender bill that would have made it a second-degree felony for a health care provider to provide gender-affirming care to minors. “No parent should be allowed to sterilize, castrate or permanently disfigure a child,” Baxley wrote on Facebook. Every major medical association supports gender-affirming care as safe and lifesaving.
—In refusing to repeal an unconstitutional an unenforceable law banning adoption for same-sex couples, said “I don’t hate anybody. I don’t want to discriminate against anybody. I’m not phobic, but I simply can’t affirm homosexuality. My compass won’t go there, knowing what I know biblically.” Baxley acknowledged that same-sex adoption could benefit children in need but refused to vote to overturn the law, saying “I could save some kids, but that rationale breaks down in the bigger picture.”
—Disparaged LGBTQ parents, comparing them to abusive parents and equating having same-sex parents with alcoholism. He said, “I sat an hour and a half with a teacher telling me, well, this child has got serial men coming through the house, this one has two mommies, this one has an abusive father whose home, this has alcoholism, this one has drug abuse. It was a casualty warfare event to hear—just her classroom—how many dysfunctional, atypical—to me—uh, structures are in the way of a kid having a chance to learn.”
—Opposed marriage equality after the landmark 2003 ruling in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalizing same-sex marriage in that state. Baxley said that marriage equality was a threat to American families: “I think it’s a wake-up call to those who feel like we are redesigning the family in a way that is not good for society.”