By Anthony Man, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Equality Florida, the statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization, issued a “travel advisory” Wednesday, warning about “risks posed to the health, safety, and freedom” of anyone considering traveling or relocating to Florida.
An even stronger warning came from the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
“Caution advised for travelers to Florida,” the coalition said on its website. “Travel to all areas of Florida should be done with extreme caution as it can be unsafe for people of color, individuals who speak with an accent, and international travelers.” The Florida Immigrant Coalition said that “every county in Florida poses a heightened risk of harassment, possible detainment, and potential family separation based on racial profiling.”
Last month, the NAACP Florida State Conference voted to ask the national NAACP board of directors to issue a travel advisory for the state that would “urge the Black community to avoid visiting or moving to the state of Florida.”
Already, the possibility of an NAACP travel advisory is having an effect. Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, which is the tourism marketing agency of Florida’s Broward County, said a conference associated with Tom Joyner, the prominent Black former radio host, has been put on pause “due to the anticipated NAACP travel advisory.”
Ritter said the Tom Joyner conference — with about 10,000 attendees — had been scheduled for June.
“We’re disappointed but not surprised by the position that Equality Florida has taken considering that the LGBTQ+ community has had to endure daily onslaughts from the leadership in Tallahassee, which seeks to marginalize and dehumanize the community,” Ritter said in a telephone interview.
“Having said that, Broward County continues to be a safe and welcoming community to everyone under the sun, and we are going to continue to market and promote it as such. We celebrate our diversity. We celebrate the fact that we are a majority-minority county, and we are going to continue to ensure people who visit here experience a safe and accepting community that celebrates them,” Ritter said.
After the NAACP in Florida announced last month it asked the national organization to issue a travel advisory, Gov. Ron DeSantis said it was a “joke” and unlikely to be effective.
On Wednesday, DeSantis’ press secretary Bryan Griffin offered a similar response via email to the Equality Florida and Florida Immigrant Coalition declarations. “As the governor noted previously, this type of thing is a political stunt. We aren’t going to waste time worrying about political stunts but will continue doing what is right for Floridians.”
The warnings are political. Both organizations on Wednesday cited DeSantis and policies being advanced through the state Legislature.
Equality Florida said DeSantis has made “extremist policies the centerpiece of his presidential campaign strategy, has weaponized state agencies to silence critics and impose sanctions on large and small companies that dissent with his culture-war agenda or disagree with his attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Equality Florida cited a range of laws moving through the state Legislature that are “hostile to the LGBTQ community, restrict access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety laws, foment racial prejudice, and attack public education by banning books and censoring curriculum.”
Nadine Smith, the longtime executive director of Equality Florida, said in a statement that the organization has spent decades working to improve Florida’s reputation “as a welcoming and inclusive place to live, work and visit.”
Smith said in a statement “it is with great sadness that we must respond to those asking if it is safe to travel to Florida or remain in the state as the laws strip away basic rights and freedoms.”
“While losing conferences, and top students who have written off Florida, threatens lasting damage to our state, it is most heartbreaking to hear from parents who are selling their homes and moving because school censorship, book bans and health care restrictions have made their home state less safe for their children.
“We understand everyone must weigh the risks and decide what is best for their safety, but whether you stay away, leave or remain we ask that you join us in countering these relentless attacks,” Smith said.
State Rep. Chip LaMarca of Lighthouse Point, the only Republican state lawmaker from Broward, has sometimes supported, sometimes opposed Equality Florida positions. He said the organization’s response shows it acts in its own interests.
“They are an organization that exists to serve their political interests. Quite simply, I worked with their leadership for many years, and their response was to attack me and use derogatory names like JUDAS!” LaMarca said via text message. “Let’s call it what it is, they exist to raise funds by attacking the majority party in Tallahassee, and as someone who is a bridge builder, they responded by blowing up the bridge.”
Anthony Man can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @browardpolitics and on Post.news/@browardpolitics.
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