Florida Removes LGBTQ+ Travel Guidance from Official Website Quietly

Florida Removes LGBTQ+ Travel Guidance from Official Website Quietly
Image By: CBS 12

Several Florida locations, including Key West, Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, and St. Petersburg, have long been popular travel destinations for LGBTQ+ travelers.

Travelers were therefore taken aback last week to discover that Florida’s tourism marketing organization had surreptitiously deleted the “LGBTQ Travel” section from its website at some point in the previous several months.

Owners of businesses that serve LGBTQ+ tourists in Florida stated on Wednesday that this was just another effort by state officials to marginalize the LGBTQ+ community. Former Republican governor Ron DeSantis backed legislation that would have prohibited teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

He also backed legislation that would have prohibited minors from receiving care that is gender affirming and that would have prohibited children from attending drag performances.

Keith Blackburn, the director of the Greater Fort Lauderdale LGBT Chamber of Commerce, described, “It’s just disgusting to see this. They seem to want to erase us.”

NBC News was the first to report on Visit Florida’s website modification, pointing out that even with the section removed, a search query still returns some listings for LGBTQ+-friendly establishments.

The board chair of Visit Florida, John Lai, did not reply to an email requesting comment on Tuesday. The CEO and president of Visit Florida, Dana Young, did not return a voicemail on Wednesday, and neither did the public relations director of the organization.

The state of Florida and its tourism sector have partnered to create Visit Florida, a public-private collaboration.

“There’s a sense of freedom to Florida’s beaches, the warm weather and the myriad activities — a draw for people of all orientations, but especially appealing to a gay community looking for a sense of belonging and acceptance,” was what the LGBTQ+ section of Visit Florida’s website said prior to the change.

Blackburn said he has more difficulty promoting tourism in South Florida as a result of the shift and other anti-LGBTQ+ legislation out of Tallahassee, since he runs into potential tourists or travel agents who declare they don’t want to do business in the state.

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For example, a number of civil rights organizations released a travel alert for Florida last year, citing DeSantis and Florida politicians’ policies as “openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals.”

However, Blackburn noted that visitors should also be aware that many Florida localities are incredibly welcoming, with LGBTQ+-owned companies and gay political officials, and that these communities do not align with state government policy.

“It’s difficult when these kinds of stories come out, and the state does these things, and we hear people calling for a boycott,” Blackburn stated. “On one level, it’s embarrassing to have to explain why people should come to South Florida and our destination when the state is doing these things.”

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With more than two years of expertise in news and analysis, Eileen Stewart is a seasoned reporter. Eileen is a respected voice in this field, well-known for her sharp reporting and insightful analysis. Her writing covers a wide range of subjects, from politics to culture and more.