LGBTQ lawmakers, advocates vow to resist repressive legislation in Fla.
BY MICHAEL MOLINE | Several hundred LGBTQ rights advocates gathered in the Florida Capitol Tuesday to denounce fresh attacks on their rights and urge passage of legislation that would repeal existing restrictions on their rights.
Legislative Democrats joined the crowd on Tuesday, including gay Sen. Shevrin Jones, of Miami-Dade County, and House member Michele Rayner, representing parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough, along with representatives of Equality Florida, which organized the affair.
The crowd was good-naturedly rowdy despite the threat they saw to their wellbeing. “I will not be scared out of the state. You will not make laws to remove me or my dreams.
I was raised on an America that believed that freedom will ring,” said Angelique Godwin, coordinator for trans-related events at Equality Florida. “We are not pawns in a political game; we are people with the right to dignity, equality, and a life free from constant slander and discrimination,” Godwin added later in a written statement.
