Statements & Press Releases

Press Release ∙
Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith to Step Down After 28 Years to Lead Color Of Change
Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith is stepping down after 28 years to become President and CEO of Color Of Change in January 2026, with co-founder and Deputy Director Stratton Pollitzer named as the incoming CEO and Executive Director.
Equality Florida Nadine Smith
Statement ∙
Extremist Florida Lawmakers File Pride Flag Ban Bill Ahead of 2026 Legislative Session
Florida Representative David Borrero and Senator Clay Yarborough filed the first anti-LGBTQ bill of the 2026 session, a Pride Flag Ban (HB 347/SB 426) barring government buildings from displaying flags representing race, gender, or sexual orientation while protecting 'historical' flags including Confederate symbols.
Press Release ∙
Dogged by Scandal, Desperate DeSantis Uses DOGE List to Distract From $83 Million Crony Deal, $10 Million Charity Scandal, and $300 Million Detention Crisis
Equality Florida's Nadine Smith accused DeSantis of using a 'DOGE list' attacking city Pride sponsorships as wasteful spending to distract from his own scandals, including an $83 million land deal, the Hope Florida charity investigation, and the failed 'Alligator Alcatraz' detention camp.
Statement ∙
Defying DeSantis: Communities Show Their Rainbows as State Threatens Cities
Equality Florida's Nadine Smith condemned DeSantis and the Florida Department of Transportation for threatening to withhold emergency relief funding from cities unless they remove street art including rainbow crosswalks, urging communities to respond with defiant displays of visibility.
Statement ∙
Equality Florida Condemns DeSantis for Defacing Pulse Memorial; Calls on Floridians to #ShowYourRainbow in Response
Equality Florida condemned Governor DeSantis for ordering part of the Orlando Pulse memorial painted over, calling it an attempt to erase LGBTQ history, and urged Floridians to gather at the site and display rainbows using #ShowYourRainbow.
Equality Florida
Press Release ∙
Equality Florida Awarded $22,000 Grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County to Expand LGBTQ Youth Mental Health Services
Equality Florida received a $22,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County to expand LGBTQ youth mental health services, funding a new cohort of practitioners trained in AFFIRM Youth, an evidence-based intervention serving Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, and DeSoto counties.
Equality Florida LGBTQ LGBTQ Youth
Statement ∙
Civil Rights and Parents Groups Denounce Effort to Erode Local Protections in Sarasota Public Schools
A coalition including the NAACP, Florida PTA, SPLC, and Equality Florida urged Sarasota County Public Schools to reject proposals stripping express enumeration from anti-discrimination and anti-bullying policies, calling it a capitulation to vague, nonbinding Trump administration anti-DEI guidance.
Civil Rights Nondiscrimination Parenting
Statement ∙
Equality Florida’s Response to AG Uthmeier Press Conference on Transgender Athletes
Equality Florida responded to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier's press conference on transgender athletes, accusing him of scapegoating transgender people to deflect from scrutiny over the Everglades detention camp contracts and Hope Florida funding allegations.
Equality Florida
Statement ∙
The Supreme Court Sided with Politicians — We Stand with Trans Youth and Their Families
Equality Florida responded to the U.S. Supreme Court upholding Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, calling it cruel but noting it has no immediate impact on Florida, whose similar law remains under review by the 11th Circuit.
Transgender
Statement ∙
Statement On Arrest of Transgender Woman for Using Bathroom at Florida Capitol
Equality Florida's Nadine Smith responded to the arrest of Marcy Rheintgen, a transgender woman charged with trespassing for using the women's restroom at the Florida Capitol, calling the bathroom law cruel, unenforceable, and designed to intimidate transgender people out of public life.
Nondiscrimination Transgender