Equality Florida executive director Nadine Smith says that while the current political climate for the LGBTQ community in Florida is daunting, the movement has faced similar challenges in the past.  

“Even though it’s hard and it’s going to get very bad, I try to remember that we’ve been through some pretty ugly periods and on the other side of it, not only have we survived it and gotten stronger, but often it’s what catapults us going forward,” she says.

Specifically, Smith cites two developments in the past where she says that the LGBTQ community was targeted, but ultimately triumphed in Florida history. 

There was the Johns Committee, a legislative body created by the Florida Legislature that targeted civil rights leaders, academics and those in the LGBTQ community in the 1950's and '60's. 

And she refers to Anita Bryant and the ” Save our Children” campaign of the late 1970's, which claimed that “homosexuals cannot reproduce, so they must recruit.”

Among the issues that Equality Florida is contending with this year includes opposing the Parental Rights Education Bill — a.k.a. ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill dubbed by its critics —that Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed into law (and which they have joined a lawsuit challenging that law), as well as the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) proposed rule to eliminate Medicaid coverage for gender affirming care.

Smith also notes that while Republican governors in Utah and Indiana have vetoed bills that aimed to bar transgender students, especially trans girls, from competing in school sports that match their gender identity, Gov. DeSantis signed such legislation in 2021.

The 56-year-old Panama City native has led Equality Florida since 1997, and received national recognition last month when was selected by TIME as one of its 100 most influential people for 2022.

“It’s a tremendous honor,” she says, adding that the impact of the significance didn’t truly hit her until she saw the names of those who were part of this select group.

Though a longtime activist, Smith began her professional career in journalism, first at WUSF Radio and then with the Tampa Tribune. She then became involved in doing communications work with the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Freedom. In 1997, she joined Equality Florida.

The group has been extremely active in recent months. Making the most headlines has been the group’s opposition to the Parental Rights in Education bill. While its supporters say it’s a common sense measure designed to prevent kids being taught sexuality at an early age between Kindergarten and 3rd grade, Smith says that there are more nefarious motivations behind its passage.

“They believe that eliminating any visibility, any existence of LGBTQ people, will stop people from being gay,” she says, citing comments by Senate bill sponsor Dennis Baxley, who said that the bill addressed “social engineering” that could result in more children identifying as gay or transgender.

Other issues that the organization is fighting include the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration’s proposed rule that would eliminate Medicaid coverage for gender affirming care and school districts removing books  because of concerns that it will violate the Parental Rights in Education bill. They also oppose the Individual Freedom measure (HB7) which limits the way that race-related issues can be taught in schools and workplace training. 

Then there’s the recent controversy involving the Tampa Bay Rays, where five of the team’s pitchers opted not to wear rainbow logos during Pride Night at Tropicana Field earlier this month. Pitcher Jason Adam told the Tampa Bay Times that it was a “faith-based decision.”

When asked her thoughts about the incident, Smith began by praising the Rays for standing up on LGBTQ issues, specifically for how it responded to the Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Orlando in 2016, where 49 people were killed. The team dedicated all of the financial proceeds from Pride Night that June evening to the Pulse Victims Fund. 

Regarding Pride Night 2022 at Tropicana Field, Smith says, “I want people to stand with us because that’s what their beliefs are. I don’t think that coercion makes sense.”

However, she adds that she doesn’t believe that standing up against discrimination requires any new belief system. 

“I think that there’s fundamentally a misunderstanding,” she says. “For example, I read names at the Holocaust Museum. I do it because I want to be standing on the side of the people who say, ‘Never Again.’ I want it to be clear that I oppose these atrocities. Then and now. I’m not required to change or adopt a different faith. I’m not required to adopt any new belief system. To simply say I believe that in this world, people should not experience discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, their faith, their ethnicity, the color of their skin. So I would say to those players if you stand against discrimination, then do that.”

Equality Florida is also preparing for a legal backlash to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015  same-sex marriage rulings.

In his legal opinion released Friday overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the high court should “reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell,” referring to decisions on contraception, sodomy and same-sex marriage.

“Justice Thomas’ concurring opinion called for reviews of rulings that ended the criminalization of homosexuality and ensure the right to marriage equality,” said spokesman Brandon Wolf. “The same logic that’s being used to control people’s bodies and medical decisions is at risk of being used to turn back the clock on LGBTQ equality.”