Jacob Ogles
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith will keynote the Moving Forward Together conference this month.
The event serves as the winter conference for the Florida LGBTA Democratic Caucus. The event runs Feb. 22 through 24 in Jacksonville.
Fried, Florida’s only Democrat holding elected statewide office in Florida will serve as the “Florida Keynote Speaker” and top-billed participant.
Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat and openly gay lawmaker, will deliver the Legislative keynote.
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat whose district includes the site of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, will also address attendees. A release calls Eskamani the “star of the freshman class” in Florida’s House of Representatives. The Orlando lawmaker sponsored a bill this year to formally repeal Florida’s Defense of Marriage Act.
State Rep. Shevrin Jones, a Broward Democrat who came out as gay last year, also will speak at the event.
“Moving Forward Together has all the hallmarks of a Caucus conference: informative panels, provocative speakers, state and local elected officials, campaign training sessions, and terrific social events,” reads an announcement from the caucus.
The event will also include elections for officers to serve the next two years.
While the 2018 election cycle ultimately proved more challenging for Democrats in Florida than other parts of the country, the LGBTQ community celebrated a “Rainbow Wave.”
In fact, the Florida House this year for the first time includes an LGBTQ Caucus, including Smith, Jones and state Rep. Jennifer Webb, a Pinellas Democrat and Florida’s first lesbian lawmaker.
Other speakers at Moving Florida Forward includes Florida LGBTQ Democratic Caucus President Terry Fleming, Stonewall Democrats of Duval County President Avery Blake Garner, Duval County Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Daniel Henry and Florida Democratic Party Regional Community Engagement Director Lisa Peth.
Fried, Smith and Eskamani will give their addresses at the Leadership Dinner, the conference’s climactic final event.
But there will also be panels and workshops through the conference on matters including inter-generational discussion of LGBTQ issues, curbing violence against Florida’s transgender community and the political ramifications of voting rights restoration for ex-felons in the state.
