BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — Florida legislation in opposition to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, a policy that President Donald Trump opposes as wasteful, threatened to ban Florida cities from showing support to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities.
Florida House Bill 1001, which was temporarily postponed on second reading on Thursday, and the related Florida Senate Bill 1134, which passed on Wednesday with a 25-11 vote, would ban local governments’ DEI-related spending.
Chris Caputo, the vice mayor of Wilton Manors, said he was worried that if Gov. Ron DeSantis signs the bill into law, even the use of PRIDE month rainbows on city property could be banned.
“That can be deemed as promoting something that is DEI related,” Caputo recently told Local 10 News Reporter Christian De La Rosa.
Stonewall Pride Wilton Manors, an annual parade and festival, commemorates the LGBTQ+ rights movement that was born after the riots of June 28, 1969, during a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City’s Greenwich Village, now a historic national landmark.
Stonewall Pride I, a nonprofit organization, organizes it, and more than 50,000 locals and visitors attend. Caputo fears the law also threatens the event.
“We can no longer promote these events that are core to our community,” Caputo said about the legislation’s threat. “I’ve talked to Stonewall ... without city support ... they can’t put on the event.”
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