You could hear their roar while they were still blocks away. At 11:45AM today, hundreds and hundreds of LGBT students, families and our allies poured into the capitol square chanting, "What do we want - Equality, When do we want it - Now!"
 
Right this minute, an amazing crowd of 700 LGBT Equal Rights supporters dressed in pink shirts exclaiming, "I am a Voice for Equality" are sweeping through the capitol building, meeting with Senators and Representatives to demand equal treatment under the law. We need your voice too - add your name to our Rally Team!

Continue reading "We're Making History in Tallahassee!" »

Editor's Note: The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is freedom's watchdog, working daily in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend individual rights and personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The time has come for the Florida Legislature to provide a fair hearing on the ban on adoption by gay parents. Put quite simply, Florida's adoption ban hurts children. It is time to put children's needs ahead of anti-gay bigotry and allow prospective parents to be considered based on their ability to serve the child's interest by providing a permanent, stable and loving home.

The courts have already begun to recognize that Florida's ban on adoption hurts our children and our families, as most recently evidenced by a decision granting adoption of two foster children to a gay man in North Miami who was the only family they had known. What is most telling is that the majority of Floridians believe that the adoption ban should be repealed, allowing judges to grant adoptions to gay and lesbian parents just like they do for straight parents. But the court of public opinion doesn't have to wait for the wheels of justice; the Florida Legislature can end this senseless ban that hurts our children during this legislative session.

Click here to urge the Speaker of the House to promptly schedule a hearing.

Click here to ask the Senate committee to promptly schedule a hearing date on Senate Bill 500.

Continue reading "You can help repeal Florida's adoption ban" »

Broward Municipal Election Endorsements from Equality Florida Action PAC. These are Champions for our Community! Please vote and donate! Support these Trailblazers and Champions!

FINAL DEADLINE FOR CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS IS MIDNIGHT MARCH 6

Equality Florida Action PAC only endorses candidates who meet a combination of our strategic criteria:
- They must be Champions of LGBT equality.
- They must be running strong in competitive races.

In particular, we support qualified, openly LGBT candidates who can bring a vital perspective and much-needed voice to the political debates that impact our lives.

* Broward Municipal Election, March 10th
* General Contribution Limit: $250

Endorsed Candidates are: Coleman Prewitt, Anthony Niedwiecki, Suzanne Boisvenue, & Anne Sallee. Read about each amazing candidate after the jump! Please Vote and Donate!

Continue reading "Please Help Your Local Community Champions in the Upcoming Elections!" »

Editor's Note: Adrienne Kimmell is a Member of the Healthy Teens Campaign and Executive Director of the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates.

This week, The Healthy Teens Campaign of Florida and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) released a report on the explosion of failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs across the state of Florida with a particular emphasis on their presence in public schools. Titled, Sex Education in the Sunshine State: How Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs Are Keeping Florida's Youth in the Dark, our research has exposed both the state's appalling indicators of poor outcomes for young people and the equally appalling nature of how abstinence-only-until-marriage programs have become pervasive throughout the state.

For starters, let's look at how Florida's youth are faring when it comes to some key indicators. The most recent data available shows Florida has the third highest rate in the nation of new AIDS diagnoses, the fifth highest rate of new HIV infections; teen pregnancy rates that are the sixth highest in the nation (and rose last year for the first time in 15 years); nearly two-thirds of all new sexually transmitted diseases in the state were among young people; and 15% of new HIV infections occurred among those under the age of 25. In sum, Florida has some of the worst health outcomes on these key indicators of reproductive and sexual health nationwide.

Continue reading "Sex Education and Abstinence-Only in the Sunshine State" »

In March of 2007, Ryan Skipper was stabbed 19 times and left to die on a dirt road in rural Polk County, Florida. He was only 25. His killers drove around in his blood-soaked car, bragging how they had killed a gay man. One of the two killers, Joseph Bearden, was found guilty of second-degree murder and robbery this week. The other killer, David Brown Jr., is still awaiting trial.

During the trial, a prosecution witness revealed that shortly after the killing, Bearden said,

He felt he was doing the world a favor by getting rid of one more faggot.

Continue reading "Killer of Ryan Skipper Found Guilty in Florida" »

February 24 marks the 40th anniversary of the Tinker decision, a landmark Supreme Court case affirming students' First Amendment rights to free speech in public schools. In honor of this anniversary, the ACLU has released a short video about a Florida high school that banned students from wearing clothing supporting equal rights for gay people. Actually seeing and hearing the principal is beyond belief.

Much more after the jump...
Continue reading "ACLU Video features Florida High School v. Rainbows Case" »

We are looking to get folks to do 30, 60 or 90 second unscripted videos about why working for full equality matters to them. Your video will be posted on our website and included in education packets to lawmakers on the issue.

We want people to talk about how their lives are impacted, what motivates them to be part of this movement. We ask that everyone end their story with the tag line, "I Am A Voice for Equality."

Any one can submit a video. Just upload it to www.youtube.com and include this as a tag: #equalvoice
Then send an email with the link to the video to rally@eqfl.org.

Thanks for reaching out to help us spread the word. More details after the jump!

Continue reading "Take A Minute to Be A Voice for Equality" »

Sen. Eleanor Sobel (Hallandale Beach) has introduced a statewide Domestic Partnership bill (SB 1642). Equality Florida has been working closely with Sen. Sobel in preparing this historic legislation. The companion bill will be sponsored in the house by Rep. Richard Steinberg (Miami Beach). As a Miami Beach City Commissioner, Rep. Steinberg played a key role in passing Florida's strongest Domestic Partnership policy.

The introduction of these domestic partnership bills comes at a time when public support is at an all time high for this legislation. The latest polls show 77% of Floridians in favor of extending benefits to unmarried couples.

It also comes as a South Florida hospital is embroiled in a lawsuit for refusing to grant a woman access to her partner as she lay dying at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The case has provoked international outrage and highlights the vulnerability gay couples face when there is no legal framework to protect their families.

Continue reading "Historic Domestic Partnership Legislation Introduced in Florida" »

The ACLU of Florida has filed a lawsuit against another Florida School Board for denying a Gay-Straight Alliance to form. Administrators from the School Board of Nassau County, Florida have unlawfully denied students' requests for permission to form a GSA this school year at Yulee High School and during the 2007-08 school year at Yulee Middle School, stating:

that groups with names referencing a specific sexual orientation would not be recognized and that even if the group changed its name to one not communicating a gay-specific mission, approval was uncertain.

According to the ACLU, bullying of LGBT students in Nassau County Schools is a serious problem. Plaintiffs Hannah Page and Jacob Brock, who are gay and students at Yulee High School, report that students have threatened to beat them up based on their sexual orientation, and both are routinely called derogatory names at school.

Continue reading "More GSA Fights in Florida" »

Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Wells is retiring next month, and Governor Charlie Crist is in the process of selecting Wells' replacement.

This is an extremely important moment for us as the balance of the court is at stake!

Gov. Crist has already appointed several extremely conservative judges after being aggressively lobbied by the far right. And they're at it again. The ultra right-wing American Family Association has begun to rally around Judge Alan Lawson, telling their members to contact Governor Crist on Lawson's behalf. They are flooding the Governor's office with calls, faxes, and emails in support, urging him to appoint Judge Lawson immediately.

WE CANNOT LET THE AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION DECIDE THE MAKE-UP OF THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT!

If Wells is replaced with an ultra-conservative Justice, then lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Floridians will have a difficult time being heard in court. Plus, many of the issues that we care about, such as overturning the anti-gay adoption ban, currently heading to the court, will be jeopardized.

Two Things you Can Do:

Continue reading "Florida Supreme Court Action Alert" »