[3] From 1956 to 1966, the Johns Committee of the Florida Legislature actively sought to root out homosexuals in state employment and in public universities across the state, publishing the inflammatory "Purple Pamphlet", which portrayed all homosexuals as predators and a dire threat to the children of Florida.
In the 1960s The Miami Herald ran several stories implying the life of area homosexuals as synonymous with pimps and child molesters, and WTVJ, a television station, aired a documentary titled "The Homosexual" in 1966 warning viewers that young boys were in danger from predatory men.
[4] In the 1960s, gay couple Ray and Henry Hillyer began organizing LGBT-inclusive beach parties in Pensacola with some of their friends every Fourth of July weekend.
[5] In the 1980s and 1990s, as tens of thousands of LGBT people and allies attended each year, the event began to attract protests from conservative residents and church groups.
The court retained the state's prohibition on sodomy by ruling that anal and oral sex could still be prosecuted under the lesser charge of "lewd and lascivious" conduct.
In 1969, the Stonewall riots occurred in New York City, marking the start of the gay rights movement.
It was the lesbian and gay civil rights lobby in Tallahassee, and likely the first statewide LGBT organization with a paid lobbyist.
One of the primary pieces of work during that time was to fight the Bush-Trask amendment, an addendum to the Florida appropriations bill that would have eliminated all state funding (including football money!)