Mayor Adams Invites LGBTQ Floridians Upset With ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law To Move To NYC

Topline

New York City will run digital billboards in Florida expressing support for the LGBTQ community in response to HB 1557, which critics refer to as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday, encouraging LGBTQ Floridians to move to NYC as some report already feeling discriminated against because of the legislation.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announces the launch of digital billboards and creative ads … [+] supporting LGBTQ+ community on April 04 in New York City.

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Key Facts

The six digital billboards will run for eight weeks in Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach, from April 4 to May 29.

The billboards feature such slogans as “When other states show their true colors, we show ours,” “Come to the city where you can say whatever you want” and “Loud. Proud. Still Allowed.”

Adams said the billboards will be paid for through donations and not by taxpayers.

Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), told Forbes in an email Adams is “doing Florida a favor,” because “if anyone is so upset about our governor defending parental rights that they want to leave Florida for a crime-ridden socialist dystopia, our state will be better off without them.”

Big Number

5 million. That’s the estimated number of impressions the billboards are expected to get while they’re up in Florida, according to Adams’ office.

Crucial Quote

“We are going to loudly show our support and say to those who are living in Florida, you know, ‘We want you right here in New York City,’” Adams said at a press briefing Monday. “Other folks want people to hide their color, we want people to show their color, and that’s the rainbow that’s representative of this community.”

Chief Critic

“Thousands of New Yorkers have moved to Florida since the pandemic began, and I doubt many will leave Florida because they’re so upset about the lack of classroom instruction on gender theory and sexuality for children in grades K-3,” Pushaw told Forbes, describing Adams’ billboards as “political grandstanding.”

Key Background

HB 1557, also known as the Parental Rights In Education Act, bans school instruction on “sexual orientation or gender identity” through the third grade, and discussions about it in older grades if it’s “in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate.” It also requires schools to disclose to parents any details about their child’s “mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being,” which critics fear may be used to out LGBTQ youth to their parents. The legislation, which DeSantis signed into law last week, has drawn widespread opposition from LGBTQ advocates, who believe the law will be used to stigmatize and discriminate against the LGBTQ community and harm LGBTQ youth in the state. Though HB 1557 doesn’t take effect until July 1, its effects are already being felt, with NBC News reporting multiple LGBTQ teachers in Florida are quitting their jobs in response. One teacher cited how parents demanded “consequences” after he merely informed his students he had married his male partner, for instance, while another told NBC she quit her job even before the law passed because she knew it “would erase me as an LGBTQ teacher.”

What To Watch For

Other states are expected to copy HB 1557, and NBC notes similar bills are already pending in such states as Georgia, Tennessee, Kansas and Indiana.

Tangent

DeSantis has similarly encouraged residents of other states to move to Florida over policies at home they don’t like. The governor signed a bill into law Friday that establishes $5,000 bonuses for law enforcement recruits, which he had encouraged as a way to attract officers to the state who opposed Covid-19 vaccine mandates in their own city or state.