Key West, Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors and St. Petersburg are among the Florida cities that have long been favorite destinations for LGBTQ+ tourists in the United States. So travelers were surprised to learn this week that Florida’s tourism marketing agency had quietly removed the “LGBTQ Travel” section of its website in recent months.
Business owners who cater to Florida’s LGBTQ+ tourists said Wednesday that this is the latest attempt by state officials to erase the LGBTQ+ community. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has already championed a bill to Ban the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom and supported a Ban on sexual reorientation care for minors as well as a Law to keep children away from drag shows.
“It’s just disgusting to see this,” said Keith Blackburn, who heads the Greater Fort Lauderdale LGBT Chamber of Commerce. “They seem to want to erase us.”
The change to the Visit Florida website was first reported by NBC News, which noted that a search query still returns some listings of LGBTQ+-friendly venues despite the section’s removal.
John Lai, who chairs Visit Florida’s board of directors, did not respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday. Dana Young, Visit Florida’s CEO and president, did not respond to a voicemail Wednesday. Neither did the agency’s public relations director.
Visit Florida is a public-private partnership between the state of Florida and the state’s tourism industry. The state provides the quasi-public agency with approximately $50 million annually from two tourism and economic development funds.
Florida is one of the most popular states in the United States for tourists, and tourism is one of its largest industries. Nearly 141 million tourists visited Florida in 2023, with out-of-state visitors contributing more than $102 billion to Florida’s economy.
Prior to the change, the LGBTQ+ section of Visit Florida’s website stated: “Florida’s beaches, warm climate and myriad activities provide a sense of freedom: a draw for people of all orientations, but especially appealing to a gay community seeking a sense of belonging and acceptance.”
Blackburn said the change and other anti-LGBTQ+ policies in the state capital, Tallahassee, make it harder for him to promote tourism in South Florida because he encounters potential travelers or travel promoters who say they don’t want to do business in the state.
Last year, for example, several civil rights groups issued a travel warning about Florida, saying the policies advocated by DeSantis and Florida lawmakers are “openly hostile to African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ people.”
But visitors should also understand that many Florida cities are extremely inclusive, with gay elected officials and LGBTQ+-owned businesses, and that they do not reflect the policies of the state government, Blackburn added.
“It’s hard when these kinds of stories come out and the state does these kinds of things, and we hear people calling for boycotts,” Blackburn said. “In some ways, it’s embarrassing to have to explain why people should come to South Florida and our destination when the state does these kinds of things.”
