Press Releases

Press Release ∙
Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith To Receive the Key to St. Petersburg
Equality Florida Co-Founder and Executive Director Nadine Smith will receive the Key to the City of St. Petersburg, the mayor's highest civilian honor, from Mayor Rick Kriseman at an October 14 City Council ceremony.
Equality Florida Nadine Smith
Press Release ∙
Florida Republicans Continue Attacks On Trans Youth; File Transgender Youth Medical Care Ban
Florida Representative Anthony Sabatini filed HB 211, a Transgender Youth Medical Care Ban that would criminalize doctors for providing gender-affirming care to trans youth; Equality Florida's Nadine Smith called it cut-and-paste language from right-wing strategy groups.
Transgender
Press Release ∙
Equality Florida Action PAC Announces Endorsement of Ken Welch for Mayor of St. Petersburg
Equality Florida Action PAC endorsed Ken Welch in his campaign for mayor of St. Petersburg, citing his record advancing LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections in Pinellas County; if elected, Welch would be the city's first Black mayor.
Equality Florida Voting
Press Release ∙
Equality Florida Staff Serve on United States Commission on Civil Rights’ Florida Advisory Committee
Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith was reappointed as Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' Florida Advisory Committee, and Media Relations Manager Brandon Wolf was appointed to the committee for the first time.
Equality Florida
Press Release ∙
More Than 20 Major Businesses Across Florida Calling on Congress to Support Urgent Passage of the Equality Act
More than 20 major Florida businesses, including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Lightning, AirBnB and Citrix, released an open letter urging Congress to pass the Equality Act, which would add explicit federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people.
Equality
Press Release ∙
Equality Florida Action PAC Endorses Todd Delmay For Florida HD 100 As First 2022 State Legislative Endorsement
Equality Florida Action PAC announced its first 2022 state legislative endorsement, backing Todd Delmay for Florida House District 100; if elected, Delmay, a plaintiff in Florida's marriage equality lawsuit, would be the fifth openly gay man in the Florida House.
Equality Florida Voting
Press Release ∙
Jacksonville Native and LGBTQ Leader, Jimmy Midyette, Joins Equality Florida’s Staff
Equality Florida announced that Jacksonville LGBTQ leader and attorney Jimmy Midyette, co-founder of the Jacksonville Coalition for Equality, has joined its staff as North Florida Development Officer to lead fundraising and community liaison work.
Equality Florida LGBTQ
Press Release ∙
Five Years Since Pulse, Equality Florida Calls To #HonorThemWithAction Amidst Backlash Against LGBTQ Floridians
Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, Equality Florida called on supporters to #HonorThemWithAction, citing Governor DeSantis's signing of the trans youth sports ban and his veto of LGBTQ program funding as renewed motivation to fight anti-LGBTQ hatred.
Equality Florida LGBTQ
Press Release ∙
LGBTQ Groups Blast Governor DeSantis for Stripping ALL funding for LGBTQ Programs from State Budget
Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed all LGBTQ-specific programming from Florida's state budget, including mental health funding for Pulse massacre survivors and housing for homeless LGBTQ youth, prompting LGBTQ groups to accuse him of declaring war on the community during Pride Month.
LGBTQ
Press Release ∙
Florida Legislators Broker Backroom Deal to Ban Trans Children from Sports
Equality Florida condemned a backroom deal in which Florida House Republican leaders filed an amendment to an unrelated charter schools bill (SB 1028) to resurrect a ban on transgender children playing sports after the standalone bill stalled in the Senate.
Transgender