In todays political climate, the importance of local elections and local government cannot be overemphasized. The elections last week only reinforced this.
The same that is true of local elections also holds true for local laws.
Case in point, Florida, like 41 other states, does not have a conversion therapy ban for minors. With the state legislator run by Republicans, and the governor being a Republican as well, a state wide ban is not expected to pass anytime soon.
To combat this, over the last year and a half, local municipalities have taken it upon themselves to enact their own legislation banning conversion therapy.
17 total municipalities have worked to ban the practice.
Hannah Willard, senior policy director for Equality Florida said, “Local leaders have really taken it upon themselves to lead where the state legislature has failed. Not only do we have the most local conversion therapy bans passed, we also have the most local human rights ordinances passed out of any state in the country without state-level protections.”
Florida is helping set the stage and example of what grassroots LGBT activism can do in this political climate.
Are you involved in any local activism and government changes?
Significant work is also
Significant work is also being done by the Human Rights Council of North Central Florida, which is currently working on bans in Gainesville and Alachua County.
For more information about the three organizations, go to www.hrcncf.org, http://www.pbchrc.org and http://www.save.lgbt
Why mention Equality Florida
Why mention Equality Florida when they did nothing to get almost all of these local laws passed? Credit goes to SAVE and the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council — two groups that did the legwork on almost all of the laws that have been enacted.
Thanks for pointing out who
Thanks for pointing out who should get the credit for the hard work going into local organizing.