ORLANDO, Fla. – A major event for the LGBTQ community in Orlando won’t be happening this year as the organizers deal with challenges on several fronts.
The organizers for Gay Days announced Sunday that its annual event in Orlando is on pause for this year.
“Changes to our host hotel agreement, the loss of key sponsorship support, and broader challenges currently impacting LGBTQIA+ events nationwide made it impossible to deliver the experience our community deserves,” the organizers posted on Facebook.
However, organizers say the event is not over, just on pause.
Gay Days began in 1991 as a single-day gathering where people would wear red and go to Central Florida theme parks, particularly Disney World.
Over the next 35 years, the event evolved into a weeklong celebration with parties, concerts, theme park visits and special events drawing over 180,000 attendees in recent years.
However, recent laws and actions in Florida have jeopardized the state’s status as a friendly place for members of the LGBTQ+ community to visit, according to Human Rights Campaign.
[WATCH: Gay Days adjusts to Florida’s new LGBTQ+ legislation]
They include a law to criminalize transgender people from using the restroom that matches their gender identity (HB 1521), policies banning gender affirming care, or allowing health care providers to refuse a patient care based on religious or moral beliefs, and a law that revokes licenses from businesses that allow children at “sexually explicit” shows.
The Human Rights Campaign issued a travel advisory for Florida after those laws were signed in 2023.
However, Orlando itself received a 100% score on Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index last year, showing how the city has remained a welcoming place for the LGBTQ+ community.,
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