JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida’s major metropolitan area has been ranked last in a real estate service’s ranking of LGBTQ-friendly cities.
Real estate service Clever used specified criteria to determine which of the 50 major American cities are the most “friendly” to LGBTQ people.
Orlando had the highest score with 40 out of 50, followed by Tampa with 43, Miami with 46 and Jacksonville with 48.
The lowest ranked cities were Houston, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee.
Criteria used include whether there is a “Don’t Say I’m Gay” law, the percentage of LGBTQ people in a state’s population, and the number of LGBTQ activist chapters called PLFAG per 100,000 residents.
The phrase “Don’t tell me you’re gay” was used to misrepresent Florida’s parental rights law, which polices sexual orientation and gender identity education for school children. These rules will be expanded throughout Florida to include all grade levels.
Kleber also looked at the percentage of residents who oppose same-sex marriage, how many Pride events occur per 100,000 residents, how many LGBT Chamber of Commerce chapters there are, and the percentage of residents who oppose “anti-discrimination” laws. We also investigated.
This service puts San Francisco, California in first place. Second place goes to Hartford, Connecticut. 3rd place goes to Las Vegas, Nevada.
The list also provides statistics on the LGBTQ situation in each city.
For example, it listed “gay bars per person” and “pride events per person.”
Jacksonville, the lowest of the Florida cities on the list, reportedly hosts 0.12 gay bars per capita and 0.06 pride events per capita.
Florida’s latest state law expanding crackdowns on gender identity and sexual orientation education was passed in the Senate by Sen. Clay Yarborough (R-Jacksonville).
A companion House bill was introduced by Rep. Stan McClain (R-Ocala) and Rep. Adam Anderson (R-Palm Harbor).