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Florida Elects Two Openly Gay State Lawmakers

WGCU | By Ashley Lopez
Published November 14, 2012 at 10:43 AM EST

On Election Day this year, Florida went from having zero openly gay lawmakers in the state Legislature to two. David Richardson won a seat in the Florida House representing Miami Beach and Joe Saunders won a seat representing a part of Orlando. Both men are openly gay.

Up until last week, Florida was the biggest state in the U.S. to have never elected an openly gay person to office in their state Legislature. 

Chuck Wolfe, president of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, says that Florida was actually part of a national trend leaning pro-gay rights.  

"I think it's meaningful because a lot of things happen in Florida that will eventually happen in other states", said Wolfe.

The Victory Fund endorses strictly openly gay candidates and helps get them elected. They endorsed 180 candidates all over the country this year, ranging from city council seats to U.S. Senate races. 122 of these candidates actually won.

"I mean, the entire country is shifting. On this issue, Florida seems to be shifting a little later than the rest of the country," Wolfe.

He says this is because Florida has people from all over the country living here and also has an elderly population, too, which tends to vote less pro-gay rights.
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Government & Politics Joe SaundersDavid RichardsonElectionsLGBTLocal
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