Florida Film Bill Stripped of Antigay Language

A Florida bill that would have provided tax credits to movie producers while stipulating their films cannot contain "nontraditional family values" has been stripped of its contentious language.

The "family-friendly" condition -- seen to many as antigay and antichoice --was removed from senate version of the bill, which passed by the ways and means committee on Thursday. A house version still contains the language, but according to Florida Together, a coalition of state equality organizations, several members of the house expressed interest in stripping the proviso of their bill, as well.

"Florida Together is delighted the discriminatory language was removed from the Senate bill," Georg Ketelhohn, chair of Florida Together, said in a press release. "We thank the senate for working with us to craft a bill that can create jobs without discriminating against a segment of Florida's families. But the work is not done yet, and we continue to work with the house to achieve similar progress on the house bill."