Why Florida?
Hosting an event that centers members of the queer, non-monogamous, and LGTBQIA+ communities in Florida has raised some eyebrows. Florida definitely has a reputation so we wanted to address the concerns people have expressed and share how we chose this location.
Choosing Great Escape Parkside
This crazy game-themed property initially grabbed our attention as a great location for a retreat focused around play and since then, working with the owners and their incredible team sealed the deal for us!
Last year, while initially deciding whether or not to go with Great Escape for Relationship Recess 2026, we reached out and shared that our group has many LGBTQIA+ members and that we wanted to ensure everyone would feel welcome and safe on the property and around the area.
The owner quickly responded with the following email (shared with his permission):
“There’s no reason to feel unsafe at our home (which you’ll be alone at anyway) or anywhere in our community... I’m personally the proud parent of an adult trans son and an adult lesbian daughter who grew up happily about 5 minutes away from where you’re staying and they resoundingly agree with my sentiment.”
Our experience during our stay in Clermont this past May confirmed what the owner shared. The area is fabulous and we felt welcomed everywhere we went.
General Thoughts and Stats on Florida
It's important to remember that scary, sensationalized headlines make for better news. And, of course, weird, scary shit does happen in Florida. We're not blind to that but we believe that it's important to keep in mind that there are good, kind, open-hearted people everywhere. Assuming everyone in Florida is the stereotype you see portrayed under the headline "Florida Man..." does more to divide us than it does to bring us together. Our dream is to bring everyone together to bridge this growing divide as much as we can.
A huge shoutout to Jase for collecting the following stats and resources.
The Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index independently benchmarks 500 cities on non-discrimination ordinances, city services, transgender-inclusive healthcare benefits and police liaison units. Orlando has earned a perfect 100/100 for over a decade straight. Other Florida cities—including St. Petersburg, Wilton Manors, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami—also routinely get 90 to 100 on the index.
OPD "Safe Place" Initiative: The City of Orlando and Orlando Police Department operate an official LGBTQ Safe Place program, partnering with local businesses that display visible decals indicating safe refuge and immediate reporting for anyone experiencing harassment or hate crimes.
Orlando has hosted some of the biggest gay pride events in the country since the early 90's and continues to have tons of events every year with full support from their government and businesses.
The bathroom law, while it definitely sucks, is very narrow in its scope. Florida’s bathroom law (HB 1521) applies strictly to government buildings, public schools, and state universities—not private businesses, restaurants, hotels, or theme parks. And it only becomes an offense if someone refuses an explicit request by staff to leave a sex-segregated facility, in which case it would become a 2nd-degree misdemeanor (the lowest class of criminal offense).
The city of Orlando government and the Orange County government all have anti-discrimination laws in place and departments specifically for enforcing them.
The mayor since 2003, Buddy Dyer, a prominent, lifelong Democrat (having previously served as the Democratic Leader in the Florida State Senate). The Orange County mayor is Jerry Demings, a high-profile Democrat. He was Orlando’s first Black police chief and Orange County Sheriff before being elected County Mayor in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. In recent cycles, local Democratic dominance in Orange County became pronounced enough that the Republican party did not field candidates for several major countywide constitutional posts.
Orlando is identified as a "pragmatic, diverse center-left city in a conservative state" but it is still a liberal metropolitan center and queer hub. Orlando actively outpaces hundreds of municipalities in blue states. Its decade of straight 100/100 ratings on the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index, its police liaison infrastructure, and its explicit local non-discrimination ordinances offer stronger codified municipal protections than many suburbs and mid-sized cities in states like New York, Illinois, or Pennsylvania.