ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Orlando officials are launching a program that allows businesses to designate themselves as safe places for gays and lesbians if they feel threatened.
Orlando officials on Monday will begin distributing decals to local businesses to post in their windows identifying them as places members of the LGBTQ community can go if they feel they are in jeopardy.
The rainbow-colored decals are in the shape of a police badge and say, “Safe Place.”
The program is starting on the six-month anniversary of the massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub.
Forty-nine people were killed and dozens more seriously injured in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Seattle was the first city to adopt this type of program, and Orlando is the first city to do so in the southeast.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.