MIAMI, Fla. – It’s a place that is so emblematic of Miami, which is why we picked Little Havana’s Domino Park to have our conversation.
Damian Pardo heads 4Ward Miami, the parent organization that puts together Gay Ocho.
“We’re in an area here in Little Havana which you wanna say is half red, half blue — it’s a cross current of opinions,” says Pardo.
Organizers said it’s the largest diversity and inclusion festival on Calle Ocho.
“What are the opinions? What are the attitudes? What are people thinking?” Pardo said his group wanted to know.
That’s why his organization set out to survey the gay community in Miami-Dade County.
More than 600 members of the LGBTQ+ community, all registered voters, were surveyed.
The poll was conducted by the Public Communicators Group.
“Kind of incredible to think that it’s never been done.”
On politics, Gov. Ron DeSantis to be specific, there was no major surprise. Almost 75 percent had an unfavorable view of Florida governor.
“The far majority of LGBTQ people, like 52, 53 percent do not support defunding the police,” Pardo said.
The poll shows the gay community strongly supports a woman’s right to choose.
On sexual orientation and gender identity discussed in schools with kids in third grade or younger, 31 percent said that it should not be taught in schools.
“So, we see it as a way of bringing down polarization, bringing people to the table to have conversations so that we can understand each other — not just go off on each other on social media.”
Organizers say they plan to conduct the poll every year or every other year.
The poll of 618 registered voters who self-identify as LGBTQ was conducted from October 12-21 in both English and Spanish. It was conducted online. The margin of error is 3.9%. This poll was conducted by Public Communicators Group.
To see the questions in the poll and the results, click here.