Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a new law banning local governments from using public money to support Pride celebrations and other diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, marking the latest step in his long-running campaign against DEI and LGBTQ+ visibility. The bill, SB 1134, was signed on 22 April and applies to counties, cities, contractors and grant recipients across the state.
Under the new law, local governments in Florida are barred from “funding or promoting or taking official action” related to DEI. Reporting from Reuters and AP says the measure also prohibits counties and municipalities from maintaining DEI offices or personnel, and requires public contractors and grant recipients to certify that state or local funds will not be used for DEI-related activity.
Speaking at a press conference in Jacksonville, DeSantis described DEI as “an ideological construct” that promotes a political agenda at the expense of what he called “disfavored groups”, singling out white men in particular. According to AP, he said white males had been discriminated against and argued that this was wrong, rejecting the idea that such outcomes should simply be accepted.
Critics pushed back immediately. AP reported that Evelyn Foxx, president of the NAACP branch in Gainesville, said DeSantis was entitled to his opinion but was badly out of step with ordinary people, including white men themselves. More broadly, opponents say the law is part of a wider attempt to suppress public acknowledgement of inequality and limit the visibility of communities that DEI efforts are designed to support, including LGBTQ+ people.
The bill also comes with enforcement teeth. DeSantis said on social media that violations of SB 1134 can be treated as misfeasance or malfeasance in office, and Reuters reported that residents may bring civil actions against local governments or officials they believe are not complying. That means the law is not just symbolic; it creates a pathway for legal and political pressure against local authorities that continue supporting Pride or DEI work.
The measure fits into a broader pattern. AP noted that DeSantis has already signed earlier laws targeting DEI in Florida’s public universities, while Reuters placed the new law within a wider Republican push, backed by Donald Trump, to dismantle DEI programmes in government and beyond. In recent months, several Florida cities have also removed or painted over rainbow crossings under state and federal pressure, including in Miami Beach and outside the Pulse nightclub memorial area in Orlando. That final point about recent Pride-related removals is drawn from the user-provided text and fits the broader documented policy trend, though I did not independently verify each specific crossing in this session.
For LGBTQ+ Floridians and local officials, the result is a law that does more than attack DEI in the abstract. It directly limits how cities and counties can publicly affirm queer communities, including through Pride-related support, and raises the cost of trying to resist. That final sentence is an inference based on the law’s language and the reporting on how it will be enforced.
