By The Associated Press
The largest LGBTQ rights organization in the United States joined other civil rights groups Tuesday in issuing a Florida travel advisory warning that new laws and policies in the state are putting minorities, immigrants and gay travelers at risk.
The Human Rights Campaign joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Florida Immigrant Coalition and Equality Florida in issuing a travel or relocation warning for Florida, one of the most popular states for tourists in the United States.
Protesters speak out against immigrants, the LGBTQ community and pro-abortion groups, in Orlando, Florida, on May 1, 2023.
While the LGBTQ rights group said it was not calling for a boycott or making direct recommendations not to visit Florida, it said it wanted to highlight new laws passed by the Republican-led state legislature that it deemed hostile to members of the LGBTQ community, restrict access to abortion and allow Floridians to carry guns without a permit.
"Visitors should join us in opposing these dangerous policies," Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. "Those who choose another place to work, go to school or spend their vacations, should make it clear why they are not going to Florida."
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Last weekend, the NAACP, the nation's oldest civil rights group, issued a warning that recent laws and policies pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida lawmakers "are openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community."
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More than 137.5 million tourists visited Florida last year, surpassing pre-pandemic figures, according to Visit Florida, the state's tourism promotion agency. Tourism supports 1.6 million full-time or part-time jobs, and visitors spent $98.8 billion in Florida in 2019, according to last year's figures.