Florida's anti-DEI law just forced Delray Beach to cancel its Pride parade — and its St. Patrick's Day parade, too — proving the legislation hits exactly where voters aimed.
When Florida Republicans passed SB 1134, banning local governments from funding or promoting DEI initiatives, this was the point: stop using taxpayer dollars and government authority to underwrite events organized around sexual orientation, gender identity, or ethnicity. The law takes effect January 1, 2027, and Delray Beach announced Tuesday it is legally prohibited from organizing, funding, or promoting either event that year.
The city stated that restrictions under the new law "include certain programming and activities designed or implemented with reference to ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity." That language catches both the Pride event and the St. Patrick's Day celebration, which regularly draws tens of thousands of visitors.
Delray Beach Mayor Tom Carney said he is working "feverishly" with outside groups to keep the St. Patrick's Day parade alive through private funding. "The St Patrick's Day Parade isn't just another parade. It's engrained in the DNA of the Delray Beach community," Carney wrote on Facebook. He has not announced a similar effort for the Pride event.
The Guardian framed the cancellations as "outrage" caused by a "hard right" governor and lumped SB 1134 in with what it called "extremist DEI measures" including drag show restrictions and the elimination of DEI programs at state universities. The Post Millennial stuck to the text of the law and the city's compliance decision.
What neither outlet spent much time on is the simplest fact: this is what winning looks like. Christian and conservative voters pushed this legislation, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it in April, and now government is out of the identity-celebration business. If these events matter to the community, private citizens and organizations can fund and run them — just like the Founders would have expected.
One resident, Randy Biro, told WPBF the cancellations were "ridiculous" and asked whether the Christmas parade would be next. The answer is no. The law explicitly exempts federally recognized holidays, including Christmas, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, and Indigenous Peoples' Day.
Other Florida cities are still assessing their positions, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, but no other events have been cancelled yet.
The real open question isn't whether government should be in the parade business — it shouldn't. It's whether the communities that want these celebrations will step up and pay for them themselves.
