By Jake Loesch 
Sep 25, 2013 at 10:00 am

Seated in a downtown St. Petersburg coffee shop, Nadine Smith holds court at a window side table. She keeps a frenetic pace between checking e-mail on her laptop and responding to incoming text messages.
 

More local governments and businesses are telling their employees — gay and straight — that wedding bells don't have to ring for them to get the same benefits their married co-workers are receiving.

Marriage equality advocates hope those initiatives are creating momentum for more significant changes in Florida, which does not permit same-sex marriage and has no statewide domestic partnership registry.

On Thursday, Sept. 12, Equality Florida will host Equality Means Business, a roundtable showcasing local business VIPs who’ll discuss how workplace diversity and protection have made them, well, richer.