NOTMY FLORIDA

Real Comments From Real People

"I do not recognize Florida."     -PN from Jacksonville, FL

"We can't be a part of it, we put our house on the market today." -TY Fort Myers, Florida

"I don’t think it’s safe for my daughter to remain here in this state. It breaks my heart to say that."  -HS from Tampa Bay, FL

"It seems like it changed overnight. There is so much hate everywhere." -WW from Gainesville, Florida

"Customers just canceled reservations they've made every year for the past 22 years."  - SS from Miami, Florida

"I just explained to my parents why my children will not be visiting them in Anna Maria." -JS from New Jersey

"We are looking at Colorado. We can't keep our kids in these schools anymore. It isn't fair to put them where they won't learn and they can even get hurt."  - GH from Tallahassee, Florida

"These people are sick. It's like we've gone back in time about one hundred years." -AA from Panama City, Florida

“I was taken aback. I never personally have been exposed to anything like this. It is just horrible.” -LP, Orlando, Florida

"It will take decades to restore the reputation. This extremism is gonna kill Florida." -KF from West Palm Beach, Florida

“No, I’m a Republican. These guys are not Republicans. They’ve ruined any chance of attracting young people to the party. And since they gerrymandered to the point of extreme, this ain’t going anywhere.” -Key West, Florida

“The idea of having to leave to protect my child and my partner is scary but one I am willing to do.” -Florida

“I just want to see a list of woke. What is on the fricken woke list?  Where do they get this stuff? I don’t know anybody who has ever said anything about ‘woke’.  Changes every week. Gets worse every week.”-Sebring, Florida

“Kids are getting beat up because of this. This isn’t a little thing. I don’t think they have any idea how much damage they are causing.” -Jacksonville, Florida

“My grandmother cries about it. She is angry she didn’t say something when her so-called friends were calling gay people sick. She stopped talking to them, she said the governor turned her friends crazy. She cries hard sometimes. Her now-dead husband picked the villages in the first place. It is overwhelming.” -Florida

“I’m not going anywhere. We don’t have any choice. My boys are screwed because they say colleges will laugh at kids with Florida degrees. Regular city schools. We can’t move, not sure what to do.” -Florida

“I’d say certainly more than half the people who live here are normal and not hate mongers. But the numbers are shifting because the normal people don’t have time to deal with them. When you work, some things don’t get on the to-do list.” -Florida

“My friends who are women, black, LGBTQ and even, thankfully, many white males, are disgusted by the focus of elected officials who seem to have forgotten that they are elected to represent EVERYONE, not only the minority of white males demonstrating narrow-minded, bigoted, racist and misogynistic behaviors.” -Florida

“The MAGA-hat people used to annoy me, now they scare me. It’s the truth. We literally turn around when we see them. Nasty, nasty people. Really ignorant, unusually slow, can’t seem to follow basic logic.” -Florida

“We do our best to instill the right things in our children to help them grow to be kind collective members of society. As queer parents we do this all in spite of a society that actively tries to silence us. “ -Florida

“All Fox News. Filled their heads with gibberish. Started the first day they were on the ‘fair and balanced’ crap. It’s opposite of reality, lying to these people. They built that station to lie to people and get into their pockets.” -Florida

“People like Ron DeSantis and people like the legislators are doing it because it excites their base, and it gets their base to vote for them.”  -RCD and JCD, Florida

“We wanted to make sure that our daughter knows that even though some people aren’t supportive of gay rights, that we are, we say gay.” -RC and EL, Florida

“Let the parents decide what’s best for their children, let the doctors decide what’s best for the children. The government ... doesn’t know the kids. [They’re] most likely making it worse.” -CH, Florida

“The clown show is running Florida... and trying to take over the country, too.” -RN, Pasadena, CA

“Gays are everywhere and they’ve been here forever. This is 2023 not 1950. Do they not have any gay friends? This is Florida. How is this even possible today?” -DW Florida

“But what the people are allowing to happen to Sarasota is a sin, and I am devastated. I watch what these so-called Christians are doing to the schools and now our hospital, and I know that they will never be satisfied until they destroy all that I believe in and value.” -Florida

“I currently live in Jacksonville and will be leaving this state for good once my lease is up.” -Florida

“They are going quickly. Unfortunately, the thinkers are leaving. It will soon be all crazy, and there is no turning back. The hate and ignorance crowd has settled in for the long hall.” -Florida

“They have to remember Milton Berle. What gives? How do they get them to hate people who dress in drag? Kirk Douglas ring a bell? The Robin Williams guy?”-Florida

“Florida is turning out to be a state of hate. Several were saying they have friends who have crossed Florida off their list for that reason and are going to other states now for second homes.”  -Florida

“I’d say ‘voting’ but it won’t matter because they built vote-proof districts, it’s rigged, unfortunately. It’s Scott, Rubio, DeSantis. So much for ‘by the people’, huh?” -Orlando, Florida

“Our grandchildren refused to come down this year because of what the Governor said about gays, and the banning of books. All their high school friends feel the same. Will we have to move somewhere else?” -Florida

“The women I know are a little freaked out. Not sure what they are trying to ban or whatever. They want women to get pregnant, and stay pregnant and then have the baby. Well, what about NOT having a kid? What if I didn’t or don’t want to have a baby, a child." -Miami, Florida

“I put it squarely on those batshit Republicans. I mean it. They did this to us.” -Florida

“And it’s so expensive, property taxes are getting so expensive. I’m starting to think someplace with winter and fall wouldn’t be so bad. You know, sweaters and fireplaces. Better have a bunch of leaves everywhere rather than a hurricane. I like that kind of weather.” -Key Largo, Florida

“Maybe Puritan or Victorian. I don’t know. It’s like out of a movie, the dancing movie where that crazy preacher bans dancing. They sound like that guy too.” -St. George Island, Florida

“Honest to God, it was really ‘live and let live’ when we first got here. Friendly. So friendly. I don’t know. I think those people must have died. (laughs) Then her husband interjects, ‘Yep, they are dead’. (both laugh). - AW & JW “just say somewhere” in Florida

“They took away history classes on slavery because it offended a Republican. Slavery. I am not joking. This is incredibly damaging to our colleges and universities, not to mention our democracy.” -Florida

“And then you have the governor hanging over you with the threat that if you say the wrong thing to some kid, or the wrong book ends up in somebody’s hands, not only could your career be in jeopardy, but the book law carries a third-degree felony violation.” -Florida

“It won’t stop. Nothing will stop these evil people. The courts were bought by Republicans, they put up the most hateful idiotic people they could find. Animus sells really well to stupid old bitter people. DeSantis knows it.” -Florida

“Old money plus new hate works for these types. They run over us like nothing. All about the money and tricking the rubes.” -Florida

“So much unnecessary negative, negative everything. When people plan vacations, if they can go someplace else, they will. It doesn’t make people to want to come here.”  -Florida

“They could have done so much good with all of it, the money, but he spent millions flying people from Texas to Massachusetts. Massachusetts. We are in Florida. Massachusetts. What? Really?” -Florida

“We are fucked.The Republicans own the state and have gerrymandered the shit out of it. It is not going to get better anytime soon so you just have got to decide what you are going to do.”  -Jacksonville, Florida

“Those idiots are actually trying to harm, to permanently damage, the largest fucking tax generator and the largest fucking employer in the state. It absolutely amazes me.”  -Middleburg, Florida

"They hate on anyone different. They ban books, close libraries, and now they are arresting men for wearing dresses. It is disgusting and quite frankly, dangerous." -TW from River Ranch, Florida

"It's like we are not even in the United States anymore." -RS  from LaBelle, Florida

Copyright 2023.  The views and opinions expressed on this site are those of the authors and interviewees. Quotes were taken from articles, surveys, emails and phone conversations. They do not reflect the official policy or position of any agency of Florida or the U.S. government. All trademarks, logos and brand names are the property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used are for identification purposes only and does not imply endorsement. P.s. Yes, we chose the most intense quotes, but they are real. We just want the world to know what is happening here.