NEW YORK (PIX11) — New York City officials on Monday expressed their support for LGBTQ+ individuals in Florida after the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill was signed into law.
“I am the mayor of New York City, but I have a message for Florida’s LGBTQ+ community — come to a city where you can say and be whoever you want,” Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference alongside LGBTQ+ advocates and officials.
Adams announced the launch of digital billboards and creative ads denouncing the recent passage of “Don’t Say Gay” in five cities in Florida: Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach. The campaign will run from April 4 through May 29 and is expected to deliver 5 million impressions. The initiative will cost New York City taxpayers nothing, as it will be funded through donations, according to Adams.
The controversial Florida law bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade.
“Children bring the totality of who they are into our classrooms, and the cruel actions being taken across this country to attack LGBTQ+ children is contrary to everything we believe in as educators,” David C. Banks, chancellor of the city’s Department of Education, said.
The LGBTQ advocates, including Allen Roskoff, were not only vocal about the situation in Florida but also about the struggles of their community in New York City.
“Our students in the city still feel threatened,” Roskoff, president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, said.
Roskoff, along with the City Council’s LGBTQ caucus and other advocates, slammed Adams earlier this year for appointing three men who expressed anti-LGBTQ remarks in the past. More recently, Adams asked one of the nine people he appointed to the city’s Panel for Education policy to resign over discriminatory remarks that came to light.
