Carlos Guillermo Smith, Florida’s first out gay Latino lawmaker, was elected as the Democratic representative to the Florida Legislature in 2016, just months after the Pulse nightclub shooting in his district in Orlando. Now he’s running to represent a newly redrawn Senate district in the same area, including Union Park in East Orlando, where he lives with his husband, Jerick Mediavilla Negron, an educator from Corozal, Puerto Rico. He was a longtime chair of the Legislative Progressive Caucus in the Florida House before losing reelection in 2022 to Republican Susan Plasencia in a newly redrawn district. Millions were spent to defeat him. Now Guillermo Smith serves as a senior policy advisor for Equality Florida as he seeks a return to the state capital. He spoke to LGBTQ Nation and talked about young people in Florida taking the state by storm, whether it be showing up at school board meetings, going to Tallahassee to fight for their rights, or engaging in the political forum. He said, their hope gives him hope. Talking about DeSantis’s war on Disney and his mean-spirited provocations as governor, he said, DeSantis is an unrepentant authoritarian with a fragile ego. He said America lives and breathes Democratic values and everyone has the right to free speech, and that’s why he thinks Disney will prevail in the battle. When asked about the favorite part of representing Floridians, he said that it is really about reminding everyone that there is still hope for Florida and that we can still elect folks who care about people. #Queer Up South Florida & Florida