Disability Rights Florida strongly condemns discrimination and bigotry against the LGBTQ+ community, including individuals with disabilities identifying as LGBTQ+. We believe that protecting the civil and human rights of all people is of utmost importance, and while it's important to understand the intersectionality of different aspects of identity, such as gender, race, and disability, it's not enough to talk about it. Instead, we must follow through and take action under the leadership and direction of multiply marginalized folks. Unfortunately, attacks against the LGBTQ+ community happen regularly in our state and around the country. But by listening to the experiences of those who are the most affected, we can thoroughly understand the impact of discrimination and take steps to address it.
It is not surprising to see that the goals of the modern disability rights movement are closely aligned with those of the broader human rights movements. They all aim to promote inclusion, integration, access, representation, self-determination, and bodily autonomy. Disability Rights Florida, as Florida's designated Protection and Advocacy system, is committed to fighting against any system that tries to marginalize, stigmatize, criminalize, or ostracize anyone. We acknowledge that we have our own work to do to make Disability Rights Florida more inclusive for the LGBTQ+ community. We are actively working to better ourselves through educational trainings, LGBTQ+ & disability specific outreach, coalition building within our network and with other organizations, and further investigating how holding both disability and LGBTQ+ identities present nuanced experiences to our clients, necessitating more strategic, thoughtful and supportive assistance from our staff.
We acknowledge that the world is a scary place for marginalized folks, and we want to affirm our solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community publicly. We envision a disability-inclusive world that provides equal opportunity for everyone, including LGBTQ+ individuals, to freely participate in a society with equity, dignity, and respect.