National Organization for Women

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FL NOW News about Greater Orlando NOW’s Get Out the Vote Billboard!

For Immediate Release: November 2, 2026   President Julie Kent, Florida National Organization for Women   (FL NOW), president@flnow.org

The Greater Orlando National Organization for Women (NOW) chapter (GO-NOW) in central Florida wanted to especially motivate young voters to get out and vote during the midterms.  All voters need to realize how important their voices are during these very turbulent times.  So, GO-NOW invested in a “Get Out the Vote” billboard.  The billboard is posted at S. Semoran Blvd. and University Blvd in East Orlando and will run through election day on Tuesday, November 3rd. The billboard was funded through a grant from National NOW.  The grant application was filed in September and was secured on Wednesday, October 7th.

“Democracy works when everyone participates,” said Julie Kent, FL NOW President. The billboard location was specifically chosen as it is a high traffic area for students attending the University of Central Florida and Full Sail University.  There are also many businesses in this area which additionally made the location desirable in order to reach as many voters as possible. The billboard also increased visibility for NOW in the local community.

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Transgender and Intersex Days of Remembrance, November 2026

Written by Ardent Werre – Florida NOW Communications Intern

TRIGGER WARNING FOR DISCUSSIONS OF SUICIDE AND VIOLENCE AGAINST TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE

Intersex Day of Remembrance, also known as Intersex Day of Solidarity, is held annually on November 8th, encouraging people to take the time to spread awareness of the abuse of intersex people and remember those lost to the violence of a social, legal, and medical system that tries to impose a binary sex on intersex bodies. Transgender Day of Remembrance is held soon after, on November 20th, to remember transgender people whose lives are lost each year due to the violence of the state and the social systems we live under.

Florida News Impacting Transgender and Intersex Lives

  • Intersex teacher in St. Johns County School District, Shepard Scalf, fired allegedly over the suspicions that he was transgender.
  • HB1329 prohibits local governments from using public funds for the purposes of “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
  • S1134 prohibits the funding of, endorsement for, or participation in diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and affirms “the right of males and females to restrooms and changing facilities corresponding to their biological sex.”

 

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Transgender Day of Remembrance started on November 20th in 1999, after Gwendolyn Ann Smith decided to dedicate the day to honor the murder of trans woman of color Rita Hester in November of the previous year.

Remembering the Lives Lost This Year

The first trans* people reported to have been murdered this year are Sthepanny Cassiano da Silva, stabbed on January 1st while protecting a mother and her daughter in São João Batista, Santa Catarina in Brazil, and Luva Noemí Madera Covarrubias, intentionally run over on January 1st in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco in Mexico.

In the United States, 23 lives were lost due to violence, 15 due to suicide, and 5 due to unknown causes this year, as reported on tdor.translivesmatter.info.

In Florida:

  • Jayla McGee, 19, shot and murdered on July 5th in Palm Beach, FL
  • Hailey “Spot” Singleton, 29, shot and murdered May 5 in Dunnellon, FL
  • Lanessa Rodriguez, 33, shot and murdered April 28 in Ft Pierce, FL
  • Rayla Elle Ojeda-Wells, 29, lost to suicide on July 18 in Jacksonville, FL

You can find more information and memorial cards about each of these individuals and many more nationally and internationally, including the remaining 40 who died in the U.S. this year, on tdor.translivesmatter.info/reports

 

Intersex Day of Remembrance

Intersex Day of Remembrance, also known as Intersex Day of Solidarity (or IDS), originated in 2005 after a spokeswoman for Organization Intersex International (OII), Joëlle-Circé Laramée, called for other organizations to join in commemorating the day on the November 8th birthday of Herculine Barbin, an intersex person who was lost to suicide in 1868 after having to reclassify legally from woman to man in a time of intense public scrutiny over her “true sex.”

Lives Lost This Year

  • Juleigh Mayfield, a prolific intersex advocate, was lost this year on June 20th at age 51 due to a battle with kidney disease.
  • Emi Koyama, co-founder of Intersex Awareness Day and writer of The Transfeminist Manifesto, died this June due to a struggle with cancer.

 

Constantly, we lose transgender and intersex people to genocides, occupation, and war happening across the globe. This year, remember those suffering across the globe and beyond your immediate geographical location, and include the struggle for liberation beyond our borders in your actions taken to protect trans* and intersex lives.

 

What Can You Do?

Get involved in your local, state, and federal government. But don’t just vote – speak up at local board and council meetings, support the campaigns of candidates and politicians willing to speak up for transgender and intersex lives, and support transgender and intersex people and organizations on the grassroots level by attending events, contributing to fundraisers, volunteering, becoming a member, and spreading the word. Know your trans, intersex, sex worker, and unhoused neighbors, check in, and support their continued safety and well-being.

Looking for a vigil to attend this year? Here are some events for Transgender Day of Remembrance:

 

Sources

Barbin, Herculine. 2013. Herculine Barbin. Edited by Michel Foucault. New York: Vintage Books.

Chinman, Luke. 2026. “Viral Intersex Activist Juleigh Mayfield Dies at Age 51 after Sharing Stage 5 Kidney Disease.” People. June 24. https://people.com/viral-intersex-activist-juleigh-mayfield-dies-at-age-51-12005791.

“Florida H1329.” n.d. Trans Legislation Tracker. https://translegislation.com/bills/2026/FL/H1329.

“Florida S1134.” n.d. Trans Legislation Tracker. https://translegislation.com/bills/2026/FL/S1134.

“Florida School District Unlawfully Fires Intersex Public School Teacher.” 2026. American Civil Liberties Union. June 15. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/florida-school-district-unlawfully-fires-intersex-public-school-teacher.

Herold, Lauren. 2026. “Prolific Trans and Intersex Activist Emi Koyama Has Died. Her Legacy Reminds Us to Imagine Transfeminist Futures.” Autostraddle. September 4. https://www.autostraddle.com/emi-koyama-in-memorium/.

Howe, Amy. 2026. “Court Rules That States Can Exclude Transgender Athletes from Girls’ and Women’s Sports Teams.” SCOTUSblog. June 30. https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/06/court-rules-that-states-can-exclude-transgender-athletes-from-girls-and-womens-sports-teams/.

“Intersex Day of Solidarity.” 2017. Intersex Day. October 28. https://intersexday.org/en/intersex-day-of-solidarity/.

“Krishnamoorthi, McBath, Scott, and Randall Demand DOJ Restore Critical Protections Against Prison Rape for Transgender and Intersex Inmates.” 2026. Representative Krishnamoorthi. March 31. https://krishnamoorthi.house.gov/media/press-releases/krishnamoorthi-mcbath-scott-and-randall-demand-doj-restore-critical.

Patel, Suki. 2026. “Intersex Statistics.” Worldmetrics. June 29. https://worldmetrics.org/intersex-statistics/.

Team, interACT. 2026. “Honoring EMI Koyama.” interACT. July 29. https://interactadvocates.org/honoring-emi-koyama/.

“Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR).” n.d. GLAAD. https://glaad.org/tdor/.

“Transgender Day of Remembrance: Why We Remember.” 2016. HuffPost. February 2. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/transgender-day-of-remembrance-why-we-remember_b_2166234.

Zinaman, Marc. 23AD. “Herculine Barbin.” Making Queer History. Making Queer History. https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2026/2/23/herculine-barbin.

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FL NOW with FRF Celebrates 26 Years of Mifepristone Approval by the FDA

For Immediate Release: October 19, 2026.    President Julie Kent, Florida NOW   president@flnow.org

FL NOW, with the coalition Floridians for Reproductive Freedom (FRF), wants to highlight the success of mifepristone (mife) and misoprostol (miso) for safe abortions. The combined regimen of mife and miso is the most common form of abortion, medication abortion (aka abortion pills or medical abortion). In 2000, the FDA approved mife for use in the US for abortions up to 10 weeks. Worldwide it has been in use since 1988.

Exciting facts about medication abortion (mife and miso regimen) are:

  • 63% of all US clinicians use the regimen
  • The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s comprehensive review of medication abortion found an abortion safety rate of 99%
  • More than 100 peer-reviewed clinical studies have found that mife has a low complication rate and is effective for use in abortion care
  • Evidence also affirms that abortion medication is just as effective when patients get pills by mail or at a pharmacy after a telehealth appointment

“Abortion up to viability is an element of reproductive care for women. 26 years of mifepristone availability has improved women’s ability to plan their lives and families,” said Julie Kent, President of FL NOW. “The current efforts to have the FDA retract its approval of mifepristone are dishonest, especially with a proven track record of safety. FL NOW will continue to support the medication abortion regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol as a requirement of women’s reproductive health”

PRH, Physicians for Reproductive Health Fact Sheet states “Medication abortion is highly politicized and restricted, despite its overwhelmingly positive track record. At the state and federal level, anti-abortion extremists use misinformation and junk science to push unpopular policies that stigmatize medication abortion. For example, as of September 2026, twenty-eight states restrict access to medication abortion. Additionally, anti-abortion extremists are pressuring the FDA and Congress to rescind mifepristone’s approval, particularly mifepristone’s availability via mail and in pharmacies.”

PRH and FL NOW call for action: “Lawmakers and advocates must work to ensure everyone can access health care, including medication abortion—free from stigma, barriers, and political interference. To do so, we must reclaim the narrative by highlighting the science and lived experiences that reaffirm medication abortion’s safety and effectiveness. We must protect and expand access to abortion via telehealth. Telehealth is a vital lifeline for people who need and want abortions because telehealth is private, accessible, affordable, and safe. Finally, we must condemn policies that criminalize abortion seekers, providers, and pills. No one should fear surveillance, jail, or arrest for making decisions about their reproductive future.”

FL NOW is working to get the 6-week abortion ban repealed and fighting potential action to discontinue or limit medication abortion, especially mifepristone,” said Debbie Deland, VP of FL NOW. “Women must have this reproductive healthcare option. FL NOW’s principles include working for bodily autonomy and comprehensive reproductive healthcare. We will never abandon a woman’s right to control her own body. The anti-abortion movement is mostly driven by men who think they should control women’s bodies. They are wrong to deny women freedom.”

We applaud the success of mifepristone and, through our work, expect to see it fully legal across the country for years to come.

Media Contact: Debbie Deland, 407 234-6408, dcdeland@att.net

For more information: https://www.prh.org/medication-abortion-brief