Shevrin Jones knows value of LGBTQ representation within the Florida Senate

Shevrin Shev Jones -- Via Shevrin Jones (cropped)
The Miami Gardens Democrat wants to end a GOP supermajority, but also believes colleagues across the aisle can become allies.

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.

Jacob Ogles

Jacob Ogles has covered politics in Florida since 2000 for regional outlets including SRQ Magazine in Sarasota, The News-Press in Fort Myers and The Daily Commercial in Leesburg. His work has appeared nationally in The Advocate, Wired and other publications. Events like SRQ’s Where The Votes Are workshops made Ogles one of Southwest Florida’s most respected political analysts, and outlets like WWSB ABC 7 and WSRQ Sarasota have featured his insights. He can be reached at [email protected].


7 comments

  • rbruce

    June 30, 2024 at 9:14 pm

    Voters don’t need to elect someone who campaigns on provable lies and falsehoods. There is no “Stop Woke Act” or “Don’t Say Gay Bill”. What is more important to Mr. Jones, his blackness or gayness? What takes precedent, his own personal views or those in his district? I would imagine there are a lot of political conflicts.

    • Michael K

      June 30, 2024 at 9:53 pm

      In case you didn’t notice, the 900,000 LGBTQ people in Florida were used as political fodder for the governor’s failed personal political ambition. But this past session, the Senate said enough already and stopped more hate – while most of the anti-gay measures were eventually overturned by the courts or settled at great expense to taxpayers and the people under attack.

      It’s very real. And it’s still happening. And it’s antithetical to freedom.

      Just ask your gay family members, relatives, neighbors, coworkers, and friends what it’s like.

      Thank you, Senator Jones and Senator Smith.

      • SuzyQ

        July 2, 2024 at 12:50 am

        Stop it with all your false narratives — which have been debunked. Shame on you. The good news is that Florida is home to nearly one (1) more million registered Republicans than registered Democrats (aka socialists, collectivists, progressives, communists. It doesn’t matter, for all pigs smell alike to me).

  • Elizabeth

    July 1, 2024 at 1:47 am

    Good article

  • SuzyQ

    July 2, 2024 at 12:45 am

    Governor Ron DeSantis is not only America’s Governor but the most principled conservative leader in a generation and the most effective Florida governor ever. It’s why we Floridians re-elected him to a 2nd term in the greatest landslide in the history of modern Florida politics.

    • Michael K

      July 2, 2024 at 8:48 am

      Are you paid by the governor’s office or his PAC?

    • Viking

      July 3, 2024 at 7:29 am

      Isn’t it exhausting to be so hateful?

Comments are closed.


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