Collateral Damage

[Editorial]

They don’t even care about collateral damage. They did it with us by trying to force us to use bathrooms matching our gender assigned at birth, and now cisgender women are being stopped. Women who don’t fit the image of a stereotypical woman are being harassed. Now, men can claim that they are trans men and enter the women’s bathroom!

In Florida, driven by their bigotry toward all things LGBTQ+, they banned anything “...designed or implemented with reference to race, color, sex, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.”

'Ridiculous’: Delray Beach residents react to cancellation of St. Patrick's Day parade 

WPBF Ch 25 

Nov 11, 2026 

Jade Jarvis 

Delray Beach city officials said they are working on a way to continue its annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. 

The city announced that it was canceling both the parade and its Pride event next year because of a new state law going into effect on Jan. 1. 

“Disappointed? Ridiculous. You know, it's just – are they going to cancel the Christmas parade as well? So, there's a lot of issues going on here and its weird,” Randy Biro, who lives in Delray Beach, said. 

The city said that new state law restricts funding for activities considered to involve diversity, equity and inclusion, known as DEI.

And now they are getting pushback. Why? Because it affects them—no St. Patrick’s Day parade, no Hispanic parades. All just because the Republicans hate us so much.

The news comes as a shock and disappointment for many in the community as both events draw large crowds to the city. “Middle of the season, it'll bring business to the avenue. And it's good and it's fun. And it’ll probably bring, I guess, 50-60,000 people here,” Kenny Moskowitz, a Delray Beach police volunteer, said.

Fox News says, 

The measure also restricts cities from funding, hosting or officially promoting heritage events that celebrate heritage, culture and ethnicity. 

[…] 

But the legislation carves out exceptions for holidays designated by federal law, including New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

This doesn’t even take into account the loss of revenue from Palm Beach Pride in nearby Lake Worth Beach, which regularly draws an estimated 30,000+ attendees over two days, while Delray Beach's own St. Patrick's Day Parade has historically attracted between 50,000 and 100,000 people. They go to restaurants and bars. They buy stuff. That is a big hit for local businesses!

But it seems like the mayor doesn’t care about the law! It is amazing what the Republicans will do to block anything LGBTQ+, and they don’t care about who gets hurt in the fallout.

[/Editorial]