The state’s largest gay-rights group will give its highest honor this year to state Rep. Holly Raschein (R-Key Largo) for her determination in trying to pass an anti-discrimination bill that state lawmakers recently killed yet again. Rschein will be honored March 19 at the 16th annual Equality Florida Key West Gala, beginning at 5:30 pm at the Garden Hotel, 526 Angela Street, Key West, FL 33040.
“We’re talking about a major policy shift here,” she said. “The civil-rights movement in the 1960s didn’t end overnight. Slavery didn’t end overnight.”
Raschein was the first Republican in the Florida Legislature to sponsor the bill to protect LGBT people in the workplace, a measure backed by some of the state’s largest corporations, such as Disney, Winn-Dixie, Marriott and Well Fargo through a group called Florida Businesses for a Competitive Workforce.
Equality Florida said in a statement it’s honoring Raschein because “she is building a truly bi-partisan coalition to ban discrimination, strengthen Florida’s economy and improve Florida’s reputation as a welcoming and inclusive state.”
is free and open to the public, but organizers ask those attending to RSVP via www.eqfl.org. The event doubles as a fundraiser for the group.
Photo Credit: miaminewtimes.com
