Florida has taken its DEI fight down to city hall. In April, Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB 1134 at a Jacksonville press conference, extending prohibitions already in force for state agencies and public universities so they cover every city and county in Florida. The law takes effect in January 2027.
The statute defines its target broadly. DEI, it says, includes efforts to “manipulate or otherwise influence the composition of employees with reference to race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation” and efforts to “promote or adopt training, programming, or activities designed or implemented with reference to race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation”
The practical sweep is just as wide. Local governments may no longer establish or maintain DEI offices, officers or programs. Taxpayer money cannot fund DEI initiatives or third-party contractors promoting them. Grant recipients must certify that no public money they receive will go to advance DEI.
The enforcement calculus is the unusual part. Residents can sue officials who violate the law, and those officials can then be removed from office by the governor.
The bill’s sponsors, Jacksonville Republicans Senator Clay Yarborough and Representative Dean Black, said they saw “a need to preserve the American ideals of merit, individualism, and character in Florida’s institutions”
Yarborough pointed to Broward County as his evidence: roughly $900,000 spent on DEI training as of the 2020 fiscal year, including a presentation of the “Genderbread Person” image, and $2.8 million a year in cultural spending, where, he said, the grants manual hands out cultural grants on DEI criteria and the county deliberately favors DEI-oriented programs.
DeSantis, at the same event, called DEI “an ideological construct that is designed to promote a particular political agenda, particularly to the detriment of disfavored groups” In his remarks he was blunter: “the disfavored groups, number one, obviously, would be white males” he said, adding that decisions about individuals “should be based on merit”
The broader stakes surface in Miami Beach, whose yearly pride events draw an increase in tourists. Commissioner Alex Fernandez pledged he is “going to make sure that we find every creative way possible” to keep the parades going, “because not only is it the right thing to do, but it’s also good for the economy of our city”
What this signals nationally: the DEI battle has moved from campuses to municipal budgets, and Florida has paired the ban with a removal power that reaches directly into local officeholders. Cities that keep funding such programs now risk lawsuits, and their officials risk their jobs.
Sources
- DeSantis signs law banning government promotion of DEI, jeopardizing LGBT initiatives – LifeSite
- DeSantis signs law banning local government DEI programs – IFN
