The Sunshine State isn’t so great — at least, that’s what a Colorado business group wants Gainesville residents to think.
Sixteen newspapers in Florida featured an advertisement meant to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community.
“Move to Colorado. In Colorado, more than just our grass is protected. Your job is, too. We pride ourselves on our innovative businesses & ability to be ourselves at work,” the advertisement note stated with a rainbow displayed over mountains.
Florida has no comprehensive LGBTQ+ human rights protections compared to Colorado, and this is why the ad was published in Florida, said Jimmy Midyette, a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. The Florida Competitive Workforce Act is a legislative attempt to add protections for the LGBTQ+ community, but it has yet to be passed this year because Florida House Speaker José Oliva does not consider it a priority, Midyette said.
The ad is meant to bring skilled workers, especially young college graduates, into Colorado’s workforce and to entice business owners and job creators to move there, said Debra Brown, executive director of Good Business Colorado. She said the company hopes this would contribute to Colorado’s creative economy and help the state become the “next Silicon Valley.”
“We will welcome them with open arms as they are, because we know talent comes in all different shapes and sizes,” Brown said. “All are welcome here in Colorado.”
In attracting these individuals, Colorado’s protections of LGBTQ+ communities have a clear competitive advantage over Florida, with Colorado having a wider range from public accommodations to parental rights, Brown said.
The Alligator featured this ad in its paper last Monday after Good Business Colorado paid more than $2,000 for it. The ad was first put in Florida newspapers a couple weeks ago, and how long it runs will depend on the reaction it gets and whether or not it gains traction, she said.
Carter Erickson, a 19-year-old UF electrical engineering freshman, is a transgender man who identifies as pansexual and said his rights have not been limited in his experience. He said his transition even began with hormones provided by UF.
“People are really accepting,” Erickson said. “I have been more than grateful to be with my own chosen family up here.”
He said while those he has worked with have been accepting of his identity, he has heard of others in the LGBTQ+ community being discriminated against professionally.
About 60 percent of Floridians are covered by LGBTQ+ protections because they live in a city or county that has passed a local version of the act, including Gainesville and Alachua County, Midyette said.
“It’s important because we want the whole state. We want everyone to be covered,” Midyette said.
The Florida House Speaker is not in favor of the act because identifying someone as LGBTQ+ includes asking them or patrolling their social media, which doing so is discriminatory, said Fred Piccolo, the communications director for Oliva.
“You don’t want people asking someone as they’re being hired: ‘Are you LGBTQ or not?’ because then you’re looking at someone discriminating in hiring by asking the question,” he said.
Piccolo said sexual orientation cannot be treated the same way as race or gender, which are more outwardly apparent. He said Oliva believes employers should not have the right to ask someone’s sexual orientation, and he vehemently opposes discrimination based on that or gender identity.
The Alligator reached out to the president of UF’s Pride Student Union, Georges Obayi, through three phone calls and two emails and was notified Sunday morning the student organization did not want to comment on the topic.
Oliva would recognize the advertisement as part of the free market, and if Good Business Colorado feels the ad is a competitive advantage for them, they are welcome to use it, Piccolo said.
“We think that Florida’s a pretty great place to live, work and raise a family,” he said. “We’ll put our environment, both personal, competitive and business-wise, up against Colorado’s any day of the week.”
The ad, featured in Florida newspapers including The Alligator, was paid for by Good Business Colorado.
