Why Florida is America's least gay-friendly state
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
As Pride Month begins Saturday, Floridians will notice a vivid difference: Instead of casting rainbows, bridges around the state will only light up in red, white and blue. The DeSantis administration, which issued this year's ban on rainbow lights, is calling it "Freedom Summer."
Why it matters: Ever since the headline-making "Don't Say Gay" law, Gov. Ron DeSantis has turned Florida into a test kitchen for anti-LGBTQ+ restrictions that have since spread to other states.
State of play: Florida bans transgender women and girls from participating in sports for female students. Trans people can't use bathrooms at schools and government buildings that match their gender identity.
- Books about LGBTQ+ characters have been pulled from school libraries.
- Minors are barred from receiving gender-affirming healthcare, despite such treatment having support from every major medical group.
- And adults face more hurdles to accessing and getting insurance coverage for transition-related medical care.
The latest: Earlier this year, state agencies barred trans people from changing their driver's license to match their gender identity.
Stunning stat: A Human Rights Campaign Foundation survey conducted last fall found 80% of transgender or nonbinary Floridians don't want to stay.
- Some trans people and their families have relocated to more-accepting states. Others have turned to crowd-funding platforms like GoFundMe hoping to do so.
Yes, but: LGBTQ+ advocates are actually more hopeful than they've been in recent years.
- Judges have gutted key pieces of the DeSantis administration's agenda, blocking the enforcement of a law that tried to crack down on drag shows and another that restricted teachers from using pronouns that align with their gender identities.
The Florida Legislature, meanwhile, had less of an appetite for culture-war bills than in years past.
- All but one of 22 measures with negative implications for gay and transgender Floridians failed, Equality Florida senior policy advisor Carlos Guillermo Smith tells Axios.
What they're saying: "Intense collective opposition" from advocates was responsible for those wins, Guillermo Smith says.
- "LGBTQ+ Floridians are proud, we are resilient, and we're determined to carry on in spite of the governor's obsession with attacking our community for political gain."
The other side: DeSantis' office has dismissed warnings about Florida's LGBTQ+ hostility as stunts, often while citing record tourism to the state.
What's next: St. Pete Pride, Florida's biggest Pride celebration, is underway, and its parade is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of people on June 22.
