Florida Removes LGBTQ Travel Info From Official Tourism Website

Screenshot of Visit Florida’s deleted LGBTQ Travel section found on Internet Archives. Photo by Internet Archives

With issues like House Bill 1557, nicknamed the “Don’t Say Gay” Law, Florida’s LGBTQ community has been experiencing some turmoil over the past few years. Adding to the trouble, Florida’s official tourism website, Visit Florida, recently had its LGBTQ Travel section removed without an announcement or an explanation.

Dana Young is currently the president and CEO of Visit Florida, and even she has yet to make a statement. Visit Florida was founded in 1996 by the Florida Legislature as a non-government agency, non-profit corporation designed as a public and private partnership. In fact, the Florida Legislature allocates public funding to market Florida’s tourism every year, and Visit Florida is obligated to match every dollar as an investment in Florida’s tourism economy. 

Formerly located under the “Things To Do” tab on Visit Florida’s website, the LGBTQ Travel section used to say that Florida’s tourism destinations were a “draw for people of all orientations, but especially appealing to a gay community looking for a sense of belonging and acceptance”. Internet Archive still has a record of what the now missing LGBTQ Travel section used to look like.

Even with this page gone, the second line on the homepage of Visit Florida’s website currently reads “share what you love with those you love”, a potentially contradictory statement to have considering LGBTQ Travel section’s deletion. At present, the only mentions of anything LGBTQ that show up on the website are if you enter “LGBT” or “LGBTQ” into the website’s search bar. Even then, only five results pop up for “LGBT” and only three for “LGBTQ”. 

Regardless of Visit Florida’s actions, the state of Florida as a whole still has huge ties to the LGBTQ community. This includes places like St. Petersburg and Wilton Manors, which is still referred to as “South Florida’s LGBTQ+ Capital” on Visit Florida’s website. 

In an exclusive interview, Uncovering Florida spoke to Rachel Covello, the owner and publisher of LGBTQ+ Travel Blog OutCoast.com, who considers herself the first to recognize and speak up about the LGBTQ Travel page going missing. She told Uncovering Florida that she noticed it about six weeks ago when she went to show the page at the 2024 Destinations National Annual Convention.

According to Covello, Visit Florida’s “Things To Do” page was last updated sometime in April and likely removed sometime around mid-June. Covello finds this move to be both “anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-business” on Visit Florida’s part, which goes against the tourism website’s mission statement. 

Covello noted that over the last few years she had thought Visit Florida was trying to further develop and strengthen its relationship with the LBGTQ community. Instead, as Covello stated, this decision puts the Florida tourism industry’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community in jeopardy. As Covello said during the interview, the St. Pete Pride Parade alone has a multi-million dollar impact on Florida’s economy. 

Furthermore, Covello told Uncovering Florida that despite this “disrespectful” move on Visit Florida’s part, as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she “does not feel unsafe” being in Florida. Nor does she believe that this is a call to boycott the Sunshine State.

Instead, Covello believes that this is a “call to get answers and get the content back” on Visit Florida’s “Things To Do” page. As such, she asks that members of Visit Florida speak up and resist turning a blind eye on this issue.

To help inspire change against this “erase the rainbow” act, as Covello put it, she founded a petition titled “Return the Rainbow” on August 26, 2024.

This petition aims to underscore the harm that Visit Florida’s decision can do to Florida’s economy, to evoke from Visit Florida a public response on why the LGBTQ Travel section was removed, and to get a statement from Visit Florida’s President Dana Young or any of its other officials on the organization’s dedication to maintaining a positive relationship with the LGBTQ+ community. 

By agreeing to sign the petition, which is over half-way to its next signature goal, signers are requesting that Visit Florida will reestablish the erased LGBTQ pages to its website, create a qualified LGBTQ+ advisory board for its website and organization, and institute LGBTQ+ sensitivity and inclusive marketing strategy education and training for its staff.

Regardless of Visit Florida's decision, Covello says that “Florida is still inclusive”. Above all, she wants “to ensure Florida remains an inviting and inclusive destination for all”. 

You can support Rachel Covello’s goal and Florida’s LGBTQ+ communities by signing her petition here.

​Article by Ema Tibbetts​