Public Policy
We advance proactive policy and defend existing protections at the local, state, and federal levels, with a special emphasis on serving as a watchdog and voice for the LGBTQ community in the Florida Capitol.
What You Need To Know
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Local Pro-Equality Policies Passed
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What's at Stake
Our Public Policy team leverages political strategy and community power to drive policy solutions for Florida’s LGBTQ community. We advance proactive policy and defend existing protections at the local, state, and federal levels, with a special emphasis on serving as a watchdog and voice for the LGBTQ community in the Florida Capitol. We work closely with other Departments to ensure our public education, organizing, and advocacy moves Florida closer to securing full equality for Florida’s LGBTQ community.
During Florida’s Legislative session you can find our team strategically embedded in the halls of the Capitol. For decades, Equality Florida has been the front line defense against hostile state policy that seeks to threaten our visibility, erode LGBTQ equality, and enable anti-LGBTQ discrimination. From issues of transgender healthcare access to inclusive education to combating HIV stigma, we are bringing policy acumen and lived experience of professionals and grassroots advocates. Our mission drives us to face attacks on reproductive rights, fair democracy and elections, gun safety, and more.
Outside of Tallahassee we are working in community and in coalition with local partners around the state in city halls and county commission chambers. We have championed local policy and resolutions on LGBTQ nondiscrimination, equal benefits, domestic partnership registries, conversion therapy protections, reproductive rights, and more. We are also working with School Board members to secure policies that allow all students to thrive, ensuring every student is protected and every family is respected.
Equality Florida also uses the courts to defend and advance LGBTQ equality. From the proactive fight for marriage equality to pushing back against the harms of Florida’s notorious “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law, we hold policymakers accountable to honoring our constitutional rights, just like every other Floridian.
Jon Harris Maurer
General Counsel & Public Policy Director
Jon Harris Maurer is strategically positioned three blocks from the Capitol in downtown Tallahassee as Equality Florida’s General Counsel and Public Policy Director. A Fort Lauderdale native used to working in hostile territory, he got his start in public policy as a legislative aide in the Texas House of Representatives after attending Rice University. He then worked on the campaign to help elect Annise Parker in Houston as the first openly lesbian mayor of a major American city.
Jon Harris returned to Florida to attend Florida State University College of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. He began his legal career at a private boutique environmental and administrative law firm, honing his skills in compliance counseling, advocacy, and legislative analysis.
