Will my marriage still be valid after January?
As a transperson, will there be a change in the law about my gender marker?
How did this happen?
“Folks were shocked, and the results took time to settle in,” said Paoloemilio, 24. “Both at the movement level – like Equality Florida – and the national organizations and just person-to-person.”
Founded in 1997 by Nadine Smith, Equality Florida has spent nearly two decades fighting for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The grassroots organization works as an advocate for pro-LGBT legislation, public education, and outreach.
“Equality Florida is one of the premier LGBT lobbying groups in the country,” said Sen. Dwight Bullard, a Democrat in Miami. “They are an absolute asset to the state and to the community.”
Growing up in Kissimmee, Paoloemilio was an honors student and synchronized swimmer who won awards all over the Southeast. She also was active in theater and says her theater group was her high school’s version of a “gay-straight alliance.”
During that time, she met Joe Saunders, who would eventually become the first openly gay man elected to the Florida House.
Paoloemilio wasn’t out at the time because, she said, she “didn’t know.” Saunders recognized her interest in public policy and social justice issues and urged her to contact Equality Florida.
Paoloemilio began as an intern in 2013 during her junior year at the University of Florida, where she earned a dual degree in women’s studies and Spanish and was recognized for her public service.
“Amber Paoloemilio is a rising star in LGBT and progressive politics,” said Saunders, an Orlando Democrat. “We should all expect great things from Amber, and the difference she’ll make in Florida and the world.”
Paoloemilio, who speaks with the air of a high school friend, said her passion lies in taking direct action to help people gain protections. She recently moved to Jacksonville to campaign for a human rights ordinance there.
There is no statewide law to protect LGBT people from being fired or denied access to public businesses.
There are anti-discrimination ordinances in a number of Florida counties, including Pinellas, Hillsborough and Orange, but in Duval — where Paoloemilio was when she heard of Trump’s win — there’s nothing on the books.
She is applying to law schools, she said, so she can help make sure nondiscrimination measures get properly enacted.
“Our statewide bill would eliminate that patchwork,” she said, “so if you’re driving — like I do a lot — you’ll get the same protections in each county.”
These laws affect Paoloemilio and many people in her life. Recently, she and her partner, Jake Moore, who is transgender, were on vacation in Georgia. They went to a spa just outside of Atlanta — which has a human rights ordinance — and encountered the kind of discrimination such ordinances prohibit.
The spa targeted Moore, who works as an LGBT coordinator in North Florida.
“They humiliated and discriminated against him for using the men’s restroom,” said Paoloemilio. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so angry in my entire life, and I started to realize this can happen to anybody.”
A Hillary Clinton presidential win might have helped LGBT people gain more protections. But, on a state level, pro-LGBT politicians can have a substantial impact. This year, there were a handful of out candidates in Florida.
Paoloemilio spent the Saturday before Election Day knocking on doors in one of Orlando’s affluent neighborhoods.
Wearing a marriage equality shirt with a rainbow heart, she canvassed for Beth Tuura, a candidate endorsed by Equality Florida Action PAC. Tuura, a Democrat, was seeking to become the first out lesbian in the state House.
As a field director, part of Paoloemilio’s job is to help organize volunteers. Equality Florida counts over a quarter million active members who take on a slew of tasks from data entry to the collection of oral histories.
“Volunteers are the backbone to the work that we do, especially in a state that’s as large as Florida,” said Jennie Reiken, an Equality Florida consultant who canvassed with Paoloemilio this election cycle. “We need as many supporters on the ground as possible.”
Clinton ultimately won Orlando and Orange County by nearly 135,000 votes. Tuura lost the House seat by around 5,000 votes.
These and other losses hit the LGBT community hard. For many, Trump’s victory seemed personal, as shown by protests with pro-LGBT messages in downtown St. Petersburg and across South Florida in the days that followed.
“Everyone has been trying to pick up the pieces and see what this means for our community going forward,” said Paoloemilio. “There’s been a lot of information-gathering, and trying to get reports off to people.”
As the LGBT community grapples with the future, its opponents are celebrating.
The Liberty Counsel, a Maitland-based nonprofit that promotes evangelical Christian values, released a statement from its founder, Mat Staver, who wrote: “We have been spared from certain disaster. But we cannot rest. Now is the time to heal and rebuild the foundations that have made America great.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Liberty Counsel as “advocating for anti-LGBT discrimination under the guise of religious liberty.”
“Equality Florida promotes a divisive agenda designed to further its own interest and not the interest of the people,” Staver wrote in an email. “It demonizes those who disagree and intentionally distorts the truth.”
Equality Florida — and other LGBT organizations — will no doubt face more of such sentiments as tensions heighten.
“As long as there are groups out there like Equality Florida,” said Bullard, “the LGBTQ community can always know that there is someone fighting on their behalf.”
And while Trump’s presidential win dominated headlines, Election Day wasn’t all bad for Florida’s LGBT candidates. Orlando’s Carlos Guillermo Smith became the first LGBT Latino elected to the state House.
“That’s huge,” said Paoloemilio. “Because of the elections and knowledge of LGBT Floridians, we’ve also had four Republican senators pledge support for a statewide ban on anti-LGBT discrimination.”
Back when Equality Florida was founded, the LGBT community faced a hostile political climate. Now, Equality Florida says 56 percent of the people in Florida are protected by human rights ordinances that include sexuality in the workplace. And marriage equality is now a national right.
“There’s still work to do,” said Reiken. “We have our 2017 legislation coming up, and we still do not have a statewide bill that protects the LGBT-plus community.”
Paoloemilio looks forward to this work. The election’s outcomes weren’t what they hoped for, Paoloemilio said, but Equality Florida feels hopeful moving forward.
“We know that we’re going to continue doing this work,” said Paoloemilio. “And we would have no matter what the results were, because we exist to look out for the LGBT community, and we’re going to continue doing that.”
Tyler Gillespie is a graduate student in Journalism and Media Studies at USF St. Petersburg. Information from the Orlando Sentinel was used in this report.
This article appears in Dec 1-8, 2016.