Shevrin Jones knows value of LGBTQ representation within the Florida Senate

For the past four years, Sen. Shevrin Jones has been the only LGBTQ member of the state Senate. He considers that more than just a historical claim but an important responsibility.

“I am a firm believer that if you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” he said. “This type of representation matters.”

In the last days of Pride Month, the Miami Gardens Democrat spoke about the importance of electing LGBTQ individuals and allies to the Florida Legislature. In fact, he’s worked with the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee on stressing that topic nationwide, as the organization aims to elect more LGBTQ candidates to state government positions around the country.

“They still have faith in us,” Jones said of national Democrats, “and they still believe Florida is play.”

If anything, that’s been in vivid view the last two years, as Republican supermajorities in the Florida House and Senate passed policies viewed as detrimental to Florida’s LGBTQ population. Jones has often been the loudest voice raising concerns about bills like the Stop WOKE Act and what critics call the “don’t say gay” law. As a Black man with a large urban South Florida constituency, he stresses many policies have been hurtful to racial minorities as well.

He has offered personal testimony at times about how such policies detrimentally impact marginalized populations and has been the only member of the Senate with the personal authority to do so as a member of the LGBTQ community.

That will change next year following Carlos Guillermo Smith’s unopposed election to a Central Florida Senate seat. Smith is just the second openly gay person elected to the chamber.

“I’m confident in knowing that we have another member of the LGBTQ community who is joining me in the Senate,” Jones said.

But he badly wants to make sure Democrats do not remain in a super-minority status next year, incapable on the floor of doing much to stop policies besides sharing heartbreaking accounts.

The Senator does believe that, as a state Senator, he has gained respect both among Democrat and Republican colleagues and believes that may have made a difference in this year’s Legislative Session. Unlike the prior year, when culture war-stoking bills seemed to fly from the hopper to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk, a number of bills died in the Senate, including a ban on flying Pride flags on state property.

“Not only is there a collegial respect in the Senate, but I think the last Session showed us who the Senate can be,” he said. “Many anti-LGBTQ bills came from the House, and we didn’t see them because the Senate President made clear they would not be heard.

“When I was in the House, we used to say the Senate is where bad bills go to die. If we can get back to that, we’ll do what’s best for Florida.”

He hopes the personal respect he earned with peers had a positive impact, but Jones also said resistance to tolerance is a character flaw the public cannot afford. He has tried to emphasize with peers that each one represents people in marginalized communities, even if they don’t make up a majority of the half-million constituents in each Senate district or the 22 million people living in Florida as a whole.