TALLAHASSEE – LGBTQ advocates are hailing Monday’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that gay, lesbian and transgender workers are covered by federal anti discrimination laws, but they say Florida needs to do more.

Florida is one of more than two dozen states that do not have laws banning discrimination based on gender, and Republican legislative leaders during the past several years have thwarted efforts to pass such measures.

Monday’s high-court decision offers an opportunity for Gov. Ron DeSantis, a close ally of Trump, “to send a clear message, which is that Florida is a welcoming state that won’t tolerate discrimination against anyone, including LGBTQ Floridians,” state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat who is gay, told The News Service of Florida.

“This ruling is as strong a ruling as could be to give the governor the ammunition he needs to sign an executive order saying the state of Florida recognizes that anti-LGBTQ discrimination is sex discrimination, as declared unequivocally in this ruling, and, therefore, all state laws that prohibit sex discrimination will equally apply to prohibit anti-LGBTQ discrimination,” he added.

“The very essence of our state and country is that all people are created equal – and now, our nation’s highest court has affirmed that our LGBTQ community is equal before the law,” Fried said in a prepared statement after Monday’s Supreme ruling

The LGBTQ community and advocates rallied around Monday’s decision as an instrument to galvanize support for broader protections.

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