On the second day of Pride Month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed two support programs for the LGBTQ+ community in Orlando.
Using his line-item veto authority on the state’s budget, which allows him to nix individual appropriations in the state’s sprawling $100 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, DeSantis axed $150,000 in funding for The LGBT+ Center in Orlando. That money would have gone toward mental health and counseling services for Pulse shooting survivors, as Pulse survivor and local activist Brandon Wolf pointed out on Twitter.
Additionally, DeSantis vetoed state funding for the Zebra Coalition. That group plans to convert a portion of an unused hotel owned by Park Lake Presbyterian Church into housing for homeless LGBTQ+ youth. The state budget given to DeSantis appropriated $50,000 to the project. As state Rep. Anna Eskamani pointed out on Twitter, the move came just a day after he signed a bigoted bill targeting trans student-athletes.
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This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2021.