The Florida Capitol Building. (Photo by Luis Salazar)
Hundreds of LGBTQ+ Floridians and their allies attended Pride at the Capitol and the Let Us Live March this month, but political advocacy organizations like the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus note the fight for equality is ongoing.
With 21 chapters from Miami to Pensacola, the group represents Florida’s LGBTQ+ community to the state’s Democratic Party. John Hill, their legislative chair, spoke with Watermark Out News about this year’s legislative session and its impact on LGBTQ+ Floridians.
Republican lawmakers are attempting to pass “a lot of the same things they try to do every year,” he says, pointing toward bills like a ban on Pride flags. On the other side of the aisle, bills that are “meant to put more protections around gender and protection against crimes based on gender, protections against surgeries relating to gender” have introduced by Democratic representatives, but are unlikely to advance due to Florida’s Republican supermajority.
When asked about citizens who may be disappointed in their Democratic representatives, with some constituents claiming Democrats have become complacent to Republican efforts, Hill says “I understand a little bit where they’re coming from.”
“Right after the [2024] election was over and we had [former Democratic] Rep. Valdez and rep Cassel become Republicans… it kind of made everything worse,” he explains, noting that the representatives leaving the Democratic minority behind “definitely did cause a lot of pain within our party.”
Additionally, state Sen. Jason W.B. Pizzo, the Democratic minority leader, was interviewed in December and “blamed the losses that we suffered in November on our incessant focus on CRT, book banning, DEI, transgender issues,” Hill says.
“I find it kind of abhorrent of him… at the best, shortsighted, to actually scapegoat communities that show up and vote for Democrats” he advises. “Over and over again, our Black and brown communities, our LGBTQ+ communities, consistently vote for Democratic candidates, so to sit there and say the reason that we couldn’t have done any better is because we were focusing on issues that weren’t important to you and your communities is just incredibly, incredibly discriminatory.”
Hill also says Pizzo should realize he needs to represent “all of our communities, not just some of them.”
When contemplating what Democratic lawmakers can do to make Florida a safer place for LGBTQ+ residents, Hill says “right now it is an uphill battle.”
Because the Republican holds a supermajority in both the House and Senate, “our ability to actually make meaningful change is limited,” he explains. In a more balanced legislature, “you’ll see what we call horse trading, as my grandfather used to say…‘if you do this for me, I’ll do this for you,’ though that’s not the likely thing to happen because [Republicans] don’t have to. They can pass anything they want to because they have more than enough votes.”
While bipartisan bills can and do advance, Hill says that “this absolute horrific focus on marginalized communities that we’re seeing, especially when it comes to immigrant communities… we need to stand up and speak out and say, ‘this is not okay, this is not right,’ and I don’t think that we’re seeing enough of that happen.”
Although some Democratic representatives are doing so, he adds, “I think we can do a better job of … saying ‘we are not a part of this, we are not co-signing this insanity, and it needs to stop.’”
As for how constituents can be involved, Hill stresses the need for more activism.
“Even if someone is not a member of the LGBT community, you know someone who is,” he explains. “So you know someone who is going to be impacted by these bills. Those of us who have a privilege, we need to take our privilege and magnify that for their voices so that they can actually feel safe.”
This need for activism is compounded by the growing fear within the LGBTQ+ community.
“We know countless people who have left our state in the past couple of years because they just didn’t feel safe anymore and so as community members, we have to stand up and protect those who need our support,” Hill emphasizes.
“Legislative sessions can often seem daunting, bills don’t always make sense,” says Hill. “We read them and sometimes we get confused, but it’s important that people pay attention because these are the things that actually do impact our daily lives.”
Aside from meeting with representatives, constituents can also participate events like Pride at the Capitol. Hill says the importance of gatherings like these can be found in what they showcase.
“They remind people that we’re here … that we are contributing members to society, that we are leaders in our fields, that we are citizens of the state and country and that we have every single right that everyone else should have,” he says. “…it’s unfortunate that we have to remind people of that, but that is the world we live in, so we have to do that work.”
For more information about the Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus, visit LGBTQDems.org.
