Statewide

Equality Florida Headed to Courts for Gay Marriage

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Written by John McDonald

Equality Florida CEO Nadine Smith said the State’s largest civil rights organization would be in court next year as they seek to achieve ambitious goals for the future.

 

Smith, a longtime human rights activist from Panama City, said the way to bring about same-sex marriage in Florida was through the judicial branch of the State’s government.

GLBT advocates step up focus on Florida Capitol

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Written by John Kennedy

More than a year after the election of Florida’s first openly gay legislators, advocates for the state’s gay and lesbian community are stepping up their focus on the Capitol, advancing a compact but potentially groundbreaking agenda.

The movement had its origins in October, when the advocacy group, Equality Florida, began exchanging ideas with voters, holding its first legislative town hall in the Broward County city of Wilton Manors.

Six Months After DOMA Ruling, Florida Gay-Rights Group Says Lawsuit Imminent

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Gay marriage supporters say Floridians’ perception of the practice has changed so much in the past five years that they predict marriage equality will come to the state by 2016. Advocacy group Equality Florida is planning a legal strategy at the same time it continues a public opinion campaign and pushes new protections for LGBT people in the statehouse.

Emily Kaiser is a South Florida native, and she’s about to graduate from Florida State University in May. But when she thinks about her dream job, she says, she doesn’t see it being in the Sunshine State.

Equality Florida calls on its members to thank former NFL punter for advocating for same-sex marriage

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Written By: Mitch Perry

Although significant strides have been made in the professional sports world in recent years regarding gay rights (think of how many players and teams got behind the "It Gets Better" campaign created by Dan Savage), it's still not exactly an arena of progressive thoughts on such issues.

Defining spousal benefits in a post-DOMA America

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Although the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in June, that didn't mean that same-sex marriage was suddenly the law in Florida or the rest of the other states that haven't passed marriage equality legislation. Nor did it make same-sex couples automatically eligible for marriage-based federal benefits.