Dr. George Wallace, executive director of the LGBT+ Center Orlando, said here in Central Florida, these directives have created “smoke and mirrors and confusion” not only for nonprofit leaders like himself, but also for their donors, sponsors and the communities they serve.
“It is saddening and frightening that people are trying to just push us aside and again erase us,” said Wallace, speaking on a League of Women Voters panel at the Winter Park Events Center Wednesday morning. “And if we’re not here to fight, then things could be significantly different for our community in six months, in a year, in four years.”
Since January, the Trump administration has issued several orders (since challenged in the courts) banning transgender people from serving in the military, restricting gender-affirming care for trans people under age 20, and ending DEI initiatives and programs in the federal government.
The Trump administration has also cut millions of dollars in federal grants for health research, including funding for research projects at the University of Central Florida into the prevention of suicide and sexually transmitted disease among racial and gender minorities.
“There’s a real concern that a DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency]-like assault on nonprofits could be coming down the pipe, affecting not only our ability to function, but also our ability to raise money,” said Pride Chamber president and CEO Gina Duncan, who moderated the Wednesday panel.
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“The discussion was that there is an executive order coming down that is imminent, that will be stripping ‘woke’ organizations of their nonprofit status, and/or organizations that deal too much in DEI,” she shared. “That may be like the Pride Chamber, who supports equality through economics in the workplace.”
Floridians, of course, are no strangers to efforts by government officials to weed out DEI initiatives or roll back any protections and rights afforded to the state’s LGBTQ communities. In 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a slate of bills that similarly enacted restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people, instruction touching on gender identify and sexual orientation in schools, DEI initiatives in public colleges and universities, and drag performances.
Florida’s restrictions on drag performances, while still caught up in a pending legal battle waged by Central Florida’s own Hamburger Mary’s restaurant, have been ruled unconstitutional in court.
“One of the biggest challenges I have is the fact that people are trying to erase me and my community and our identity,” said Wallace of the Center. “Something as simple as government buildings not being able to fly rainbow flags.”
A bill proposed by former Florida Sen. Randy Fine (now a U.S. Congressman) this year that failed to pass sought to ban government entities from flying Pride flags, as well as any other flag that “represents a political viewpoint.”
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While the 988 hotline was allocated $520 million in the Department of Health and Human Services’ new budget proposal, the proposal reportedly cuts funding for a specialized hotline service for LGBT people that’s available to callers upon request.
A senior Trump administration official told NBC News the funding is being “reallocated” for general 988 services, not “cut.”
This explanation isn’t reassuring for local advocates. “To think that maybe in a year someone could call 988 and no one will pick up that phone is just frightening,” said Wallace. “Especially for youth, because they’re already underserved.”
A 2024 survey from the nonprofit Trevor Project — a federal contractor for 988 services to LGBTQ young people — found that 39 percent of LGBTQ+ young people they surveyed seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including 46 percent of trans and nonbinary young people. The survey results included input from more than 18,000 U.S. LGBTQ youth and young adults aged 13 to 24.
Several local nonprofits have suffered casualties from the Trump administration’s directives, and have sought to make up for losses through the further diversification of funding sources. Wallace’s organization, the LGBT+ Center Orlando, lost $182,500 in federal and state grants earlier this year, according to Spectrum News 13.
The Center, which first opened back in 1978, serves as an important resource hub for LGBTQ+ individuals in the Orlando area. They offer mental health counseling, support groups, care coordination, and food assistance through a food pantry — all for free. The nonprofit also offers free HIV testing, a service available for anyone, regardless of whether they identify as LGBTQ+ or not.
Zebra Youth, a housing and social service agency for homeless LGBTQ+ youth and young adults, has similarly lost some of their federal funding since Trump retook the White House. So has QLatinx, a LGBTQ advocacy organization for Latinos. The nonprofit formed after the June 12, 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub that disproportionately affected Hispanics and Latinos. It was on Latin Night at the club that the gunman opened fire, killing 49 people and wounding more than 50.
“We’ve lost two of our health grants because they place those restrictions … on gender identity and sexual orientation,” said Gabriella Rodriguez, executive director of QLatinx, referring to the federal government. One of her organization’s sponsors, she added, “quietly withdrew” some of their funding in order to preemptively comply with vague directives from the Trump administration.
“Things are getting really, really tight, and we already lean on a very small budget, so we’ve had to lean on different partnerships, and we’ve had to lean on philanthropy,” Rodriguez explained.
She said efforts to undermine LGBTQ+ rights have only compounded concerns among the mostly immigrant and mixed legal status families her organization serves who face uncertainty amid the administration’s mass deportation efforts.
“What we’re seeing right now in our country is impacting folks from leaving their houses, is impacting folks from being able to do their day to day, from dropping off their kids at school or making a livable wage,” said Rodriguez. “I would also say a lot of the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric — so, folks that sit at both intersections — there’s a lot of fear within spaces.”
How to help Central Florida LGBTQ groups
Advocates in the Orlando area point to monetary donations as a key way to help keep nonprofits that service LGBTQ+ communities afloat during this time.
Locals can contact their state and federal electeds to ask them to protect funding for these organizations, and join activist groups that organize around these issues. Donations of goods, services and volunteer assistance to LGBTQ advocacy groups can also be helpful.
Some LGBTQ nonprofit groups in the Orlando area include:
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Some funding cuts have already come, while others are still up in the air.
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This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2025.