TALLAHASSEE (LifeSiteNews) — Florida has removed from its state tourism website a section highlighting pro-LGBTQ attractions in the state.
The date the web portal was removed is unknown, although the Internet Archive shows it was up and running as recently as April 19, according to NBC News. The website is dedicated to the tourism non-profit organization Visit Florida, a public-private initiative created by Florida’s legislature in 1996.
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An archived copy of the former website portal shows links to beach hotspots for homosexuals and a guide to Florida “pride” events, among other travel suggestions for homosexual or gender-confused tourists. The web address that formerly linked to the landing page — www.visitflorida.com/things-to-do/cultural/lgbtq/ — now links to a general “Things to Do in Florida” page.
The reasons for the landing page’s removal are unclear.
While some critics remarked that Visit Florida’s move is unwise from a business perspective, to the extent that it may discourage “LGBTQ” people from visiting Florida, the state’s tourism industry is not only booming — it is breaking historical records. Earlier this month, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that the state “welcomed a record-breaking 34.2 million visitors in the second quarter of 2024.”
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In addition, Florida is increasingly attracting tourists despite “travel advisories” for the state issued by left-wing groups. For example, last year, the militantly pro-LGBTQ group Human Rights Campaign issued a travel advisory for Florida, warning of laws the group considered to be “hostile to the LGBTQ community.” The laws in question do not deprive people who believe that they are “LGBTQ” of actual rights, goods, and services, but instead are largely designed to protect minors from indoctrination and lifelong harms.
Laws the Human Rights Campaign took issue with included one that prohibited sterilizing and mutilating transgender interventions for minors, and the Parental Rights in Education Act that banned discussion on “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” in certain grade levels.
Another law the HRC took issue with, the Safety in Private Spaces Act, protects women from men posing as women in public bathrooms or changing rooms.