Through advocacy, advice and action, Nathan Bruemmer has served St. Petersburg’s LBGTQ+ community for more than a decade. He is an attorney and an educator who understands that equity, and inclusion, are worth fighting for.

Bruemmer is also St. Petersburg’s new LGBTQ+ Liaison, appointed Dec. 1 by Mayor Ken Welch to coordinate and implement support and outreach efforts between the mayor’s office and the community.

The position, Bruemmer said, is key, “considering all the changing dynamics from a legal and policy perspective between municipalities and the state and the federal levels. So I think more than ever to have good information for the services you need is pretty important, and pretty relevant.”

Critics of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts are many in Florida, he concedes, and so a city employee focused solely on the behalf of the LGBTQ+ community – and its interaction with others in the population – is now more important than ever.

“And I think this position is evolving from where it began,” Bruemmer said. “Having worked at the intersection of the law and policy and education, myself, I think it’s a unique set of circumstances – and the times demand that we’re clear on what we do as a municipality versus what that public-versus-private partnership looks like in the changing dynamics. As quickly as they’re changing, frankly.

“The legislative session is coming quickly. And there may be some other things coming before us that may continue to change those dynamics, we don’t know.”

A native of Tampa and a St. Petersburg resident, Bruemmer is a practicing attorney and an adjunct professor at Stetson University College of Law, where he teaches an upper-level seminar on how U.S. law regulates gender identity and sexual orientation.

A long time St. Pete Pride board member, he served as Interim Executive Director in 2021, and was Director of LGBTQ Affairs for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services between 2021 and 2023.

“Having worked in a similar role from a statewide perspective,” he said, “with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, at that point my time my focus was around prevention of fraud, and discrimination through a consumer protection lens, and how we engage with different communities within our state.

“Regardless of where law and policy is going, communities still have needs. And as public servants, we have to still find ways to meet those needs. So that is ultimately the responsibility of what we do as leaders and members of the team.”

The position of LBGTQ+ Liaison was created in 2017; St. Pete Service Director Jim Nixon was the first in the role. Nixon was succeeded in 2024 by Eric Vaughn, who served in the mayor’s office in several capacities.

“Eric brought care, professionalism, and a true commitment to ensuring our LGBTQ+ residents and visitors felt supported and valued,” said Mayor Ken Welch in a prepared statement. “We are grateful for his service and the meaningful impact of his leadership in this role.”

Brummer’s “statewide leadership, deep community roots and strong record of collaboration will help us continue advancing equity and ensuring that St. Pete remains a welcoming home for all,” Welch wrote.

Bruemmer noted that he is, significantly, the first full-time LGBTQ+ Liaison.

As attitudes change, Bruemmer said, “and as the landscape is evolving … when we get down to what constituents need, whether it’s basic sustainable needs – food, housing and employment and healthcare, and how the city is meeting those needs in uncertain financial times – these are the things that make the City of St. Petersburg so unique.”

There is, he concluded, “A lot that we need to do to continue. There have been recent polls and research about the precarious nature of how LGBTQ Americans, and LGBTQ Floridians, and potential visitors to the state of Florida feel about what we see in the media, or what we see as the reality, politically.

“But on the ground, here, we have to get the word out that our city is doing amazing things and – there’s much internal and external work to do, given those circumstances.”