Nadine Smith Is One of Time Magazine’s Most Influential People of 2022

For over three decades, the Florida dynamo has been fighting to ensure the rights of the LGBTQ community in the Sunshine State. And she’s just getting started.

She has been called an influencer, but only in the truest, best sense of the word. That is because Nadine Smith, one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2022, has been uniquely influential in advancing LGBTQ equality for over three decades.

Smith, who in 1977 founded Equality Florida, the state’s leading LGBTQ education and advocacy organization, comes from a long line of activists. Her grandfather, for example, was part of organizing sharecroppers to stand up to racism.

For the St. Petersburg, Florida resident, the Time magazine distinction comes at the perfect time, when her home state is under Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” law, which starting July 1, will ban classroom discussion of issues relating to sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

“I think it speaks to the moment, where Florida is at the center of this culture war launched by our governor,” said Smith, a former journalist who to this day serves as Equality Florida’s executive director.

Like her idol, Ida B. Wells, who in the 1890s risked her life to lead anti-lynching crusades, Smith has been inspired to work tirelessly to combat discrimination in employment, housing, and many other areas. And like Wells, she has been relentless in fighting the “Don’t Say Gay” bill through a major civil rights lawsuit, and by speaking of the effect this law will have in classrooms across the state.

Yes, Florida faces a tough road ahead. But Smith remains optimistic that despite DeSantis’ discriminatory law, justice will inevitably be done.

“I think in the same way that the effort to stop marriage equality actually helped to solidify support for it, that we’re going to see the same outcome here,” she said.