Local activists, nonprofits and community members will join for a rally Friday at Orlando City Hall at 5:30 p.m. to protest policies set forth during the first week of the legislative session.
Hope Community Center is leading the rally along with several local immigrant and LGBTQ groups.
They plan on calling out the DeSantis administration for what they claim are, “hateful rhetoric and policies,” aimed at immigrants, transgender people, people of color, youth and teachers.
Debo Ofsowitz is with Hope Community Center. She said the message she hopes they send is that marginalized people play a crucial role in the state.
“We need to come together to make a point about how all of us are marginalized. But we are part of this community," said Ofsowitz. "We make this community better by being here and we need to make sure that people remember that and respect our rights as well.”
She said more important is that these groups remain united.
“We're all under attack at this time. It's easy to fall into your own bubble and defend your own little corner," said Ofsowitz. "But the fact is, is that we are stronger together. If we are all under attack from the same source, then we need to come together to combat that.”
On day one of the legislative session this week, the GOP-led legislature introduced legislation calling for a six-week ban on abortion in most cases. Currently, abortions are banned in the state after 15 weeks.
