Who is Florida Rep. Webster Barnaby? Here's what we know

State Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, made national headlines Monday when he likened transgender people to mutants from "X-Men" movies and called them "demons and imps." (He later apologized).

Barnaby made the comments in support of the "Safety in Private Spaces Act," a bill that would prohibit people from entering restrooms or changing facilities designated for the opposite sex and refusing to depart when asked to do so, according to the proposed legislation.

Election news: State Rep. Webster Barnaby wins recount, faces allegation of voter intimidation

Who is Webster Barnaby?

The 63-year-old Barnaby was born in Birmingham, England, and moved to Florida in 1991, according to his official lawmaker biography on myfloridahouse.gov. He is married, has two children, and lists his religious affiliation as Christian.

What did Barnaby do before he became a legislator?

He studied business administration at Matthew Boulton College there and worked for the city's Housing Authority for 10 years as an area housing manager before moving to the U.S. Virgin Islands, working there for four years in the hospitality industry, according to a Daytona Beach News-Journal profile.

He moved to Florida in 1991 and worked as an account executive at a radio station before joining National Write Your Congressman Inc., a business that sells memberships and calls itself the "leading source of constituent mail received by Congress."

Barnaby was first elected to the state's House of Representatives in 2020. He was re-elected in 2022, defeating Rep. Elizabeth Fetterhoff by 30 votes in the Republican primary last August.

What political experience did Barnaby have before joining the House?

Barnaby was elected to the Deltona City Commission in 2012.

Less than halfway into that term, Barnaby ran for a Volusia County Council seat and lost in the primary in 2014. He gave up his commission seat in accordance with Florida's resign-to-run law.

He also unsuccessfully ran for the West Volusia Hospital Authority in 2018.

What does Barnaby do for work?

Other than his job as a legislator, which pays $29,697 per year, he is also listed as the "president of an LLC" on his biography page on myfloridahouse.gov.

State business records show the company is named Selling Connections Unlimited LLC. In his Florida financial disclosure form filed in 2021, he reported earning $139,452 from the business.

It's not clear what the purpose of the business is, from looking at online records. In an interview with community newspaper The West Volusia Beacon, Barnaby described his company's work as "marketing."

Did he receive a Paycheck Protection Program loan?

Yes. On April 30, 2020, he received approval for a PPP loan, for $33,542, and put it toward the company's two-person payroll, according to Pro Publica's PPP database. The loan and the interest it accrued, $33,960 in total, were "forgiven" the following year.

What did he say that made people so angry?

Barnaby received heavy criticism for comments he made after transgender people testified against the bill.

"We have people that live among us today on planet Earth that are happy to display themselves as if they were mutants from another planet," he said before the House Commerce Committee approved the bill. "This is the planet Earth where God created men, male, and women, female. I'm a proud Christian conservative Republican. I'm not on the fence, not on the fence."

Barnaby proceeded to call those constituents "demons and imps who come and parade before us and pretend that you are part of this world. So, I'm saying my righteous indignation is stirred. I am sick and tired of this. I'm not going to put up with it. You can test me and try to take me on. But I promise you I'll win every time."

What are some of the other bills Barnaby has filed or supported?

In 2021, Barnaby introduced a bill that would ban abortion in Florida when a fetal heartbeat is detected, which usually occurs six to eight weeks after conception.

The bill, which also proposed replacing the term "fetus" with "unborn child," ultimately died in the Professions and Public Health Subcommittee.

Also in 2021, Barnaby proposed giving high schools the right to use the stadium microphone for prayers, or anything else, ahead of high school playoff games.

The bill died in the Rules Committee.

What does he think of the media?

Not much, apparently. During a rally in 2016 for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, Barnaby led attendees in what he called a "prayer," during which he called the news media "a den of vipers" from which emanates "the stench of evil."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida Rep. Barnaby draws ire after insulting transgender constituents