GOP lawmakers take goal at LGBTQ+ ‘safe places’ program in small Florida city

MOUNT DORA, Fla. (AP) — Some central Florida lawmakers stated they have been contemplating “all legislative, legal and executive options available” to cease enterprise house owners in a small city from voluntarily displaying rainbow decals of their home windows indicating that they’re “safe place” for LGBTQ+ individuals who really feel threatened.

Four Republican lawmakers wrote a letter to officers in Mount Dora two weeks in the past warning that the brand new, non-compulsory city-sponsored program might put the central Florida group exterior Orlando “in the crosshairs of potentially detrimental and absolutely unnecessary economic harm.”

The lawmakers cited boycotts of Bud Light and Target, which adopted the manufacturers’ efforts to advertise variety and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ group.

Mount Dora’s metropolis council accredited the Safe Place Initiative final month. The metropolis of 17,000 residents is thought for its vintage retailers and weekend festivals.

“The mission of the Safe Place Initiative is to provide the community with easily accessible safety information and safe places throughout the city they can turn to if they are the victims of an anti-LGBTQ+ or other hate crimes,” town of Mount Dora stated on its web site.

Safe Place applications are seen all through metro Orlando – in addition to all through the U.S. – together with ones sponsored by the Orlando Police Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Osceola County Sheriff’s Office, all in central Florida.

The council’s determination to approve this system has coincided with an uptick in anti-LGBTQ+ incidents, together with vandalism final month at two LGBTQ+ facilities in Orlando.

Democratic state lawmaker Anna Eskamani posted the Republican lawmakers’ letter on social media, saying it “might be the weirdest letter I’ve ever read.”

“Let LGBTQ+ (people) exist and stop politicizing everything!” wrote Eskamani, whose district is in Orlando. “So much manufactured panic from the right. Meanwhile families can’t even afford to live in Florida. Focus on that instead.”