The Stonewall National Museum and Archives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, canceled its membership with the state’s official tourism marketing corporation, Visit Florida, after that organization “quietly” took down a section of its website dedicated to courting LGBTQ+ tourists, according to a report published in the Advocate.
Along with its withdrawal from the tourism site, the Stonewall Museum demanded that Visit Florida’s annual fee of $475 be reimbursed. Visit Florida refunded the museum.
The museum had for year been affiliated with Visit Florida, but following the change to the tourism agency’s website, leadership thought the money could be better spent elsewhere. “For a small nonprofit that gets nothing in return for their money, its money we can use better than them,” Robert Kesten, the museum’s executive director, told the Advocate.
Florida has been under scrutiny in recent months for cutting state funded arts and culture grants, and for a string of anti-LGBT legislation including the “Don’t Say Gay” Law, formally called the Parental Rights in Education Act, which limits classroom discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity. The state has also instituted gender-affirming care bans that restrict access to medical treatments for transgender minors.
Additionally, the state has enacted bathroom restrictions and book bans targeting LGBTQ+ themes and characters, though a recent settlement clarified that the law only bans the use of LGBTQ-centric books for classroom instruction.
“The reason Visit Florida took down their page and content welcoming LGBTQ tourists is because Ron DeSantis doesn’t believe LGBTQ individuals should be welcome in the state of Florida,” state Senator-elect Carlos Guillermo Smith, an openly gay Democrat, told the Advocate. “They are willing to do this to the detriment of small businesses who benefit from LGBTQ money.”
