- David Maughan, 32, moved from Richmond, Virginia to Oakland Park, Florida last year.
- As a progressive, Morgan said he is concerned about Florida’s culture war politics.
- But he has found Floridians especially accepting and welcoming of the LGBTQ+ community.
This told essay is based on a conversation with David Maughan, a 32-year-old human resources analyst who moved from Richmond, Virginia, to Oakland Park, Florida in August 2023 to be closer to her boyfriend. He told Business Insider his thoughts on life in the Sunshine State.
david: My Florida story began in 2020 when I met a man named Brandon. Like many relationships these days, we met online, especially in the early days of coronavirus. He lived in South Florida.
I was born and raised in Central Pennsylvania, but have lived in Richmond, Virginia since I was about 25 years old.
Brandon and I dated casually for a few months and then officially. We lived long distance for about three years, traveling back and forth between Virginia and Florida. We both wanted to be in the same place together, so it became a question of who would move out. I work remotely, so the transition was easy.
I had a lot of worries about moving to Florida.
First of all, this was a huge transition from my entire support system. I am part of the LGBTQ+ community and I felt it was very strong in Richmond.
The thought of starting over and making new friends in your 30s can be daunting. I knew I was with my boyfriend and I had met a lot of his friends, so I would have some built-in circle of friendships, but I still wanted to make friends of my own.
But my biggest concerns were state politics and the weather. Many of my friends in Richmond were understanding at first, but not my concerns about the weather. Everyone says Florida’s weather is great, but they don’t realize that Florida has great weather. hot hot. It’s 90 to 95 degrees every day in the summer. I’m tired. You don’t want to go outside. Some people like it. But for me, it was a big concern.
Another major interest I had was politics. I consider myself a progressive and a Democrat. I call myself a pragmatic progressive. In Richmond, I was actively involved in volunteering for local Democratic campaigns. For me it’s more than just a hobby. It’s something I’m really passionate about.
All progressives view Florida with horror because of the actions of the governor, the state Legislature, and the state Supreme Court. They have pushed truly far-right policies, from gerrymandering Congressional districts to passing a six-week abortion ban. These are not acceptable policies to me.
My boyfriend and I discussed those concerns a lot before we moved. His famous quote is, “Florida is trash, but it’s my trash.” And I understand, he has lived here for a long time.
Moved in August 2023.
I moved to Oakland Park, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. Although Oakland Park has a small population, surrounding Broward County is home to approximately 2 million people. So it’s a much larger metropolitan area than I was used to.
Overall, it’s a comfortable city to live in. But so far things have been a bit complicated for me. I love the community I’ve found here. I found an LGBTQ+ adult sports league to join. There’s also plenty of nightlife nearby.
I think one of the reasons it’s been so easy to make friends is because a lot of people are also transplants. I have not received any criticism from native Floridians for moving here. they were welcoming.
But on the downside, Florida is really car-centric by design, making it uncomfortable to get around any other way. There is a 6-lane road with cars passing by. There are signs saying bikes can share the road, but you have to be insane to do that. It is difficult to go to the beach by bicycle. I think I’ve only been to the beach three times in the last eight months.
I’m still getting used to the Florida terrain. Richmond is a place of hills and rivers. But here it’s clearly flat. There are plenty of single-family homes, low-rise apartment buildings, and shopping malls. Many areas don’t have good sidewalks, which surprised me.
I moved here in August when it started to get cooler, so I can’t really complain about the weather. Both fall and winter were great. But let’s see how my first full summer goes.
Florida is making the culture war even more intense.
Florida’s elected leaders are pretty far-right. But I don’t think Floridians are that far-right. That’s an important difference. A lot of the races here are really close. And if you look at some of the referendums that have taken place in Florida, many have targeted very progressive issues, such as felon disenfranchisement reform.
I felt I could make an impact and have tried to get involved in politics at the local level. I joined a group called Broward Young Democrats.
The area I live in is, for the most part, quite accepting of the LGBTQ+ community. Wilton Manors, a town right next to Oakland Park, is known as a “gay mecca.” At the local level, we have a strong and supportive community.
However, while I have never experienced any direct harassment and am not concerned for my own safety, I am certainly concerned given what the state of Florida is planning to do in the future. If they want to ban transgender medical care today, what’s to stop them from enacting discriminatory laws against all homosexuals tomorrow?
The cost of living is much higher in Florida.
The biggest example is my rent. I was living in his 700 square foot one-bedroom apartment in Richmond and paying $1,400 a month, which I thought was a bit high at the time.
But here, I live in a one-bedroom apartment that’s about 800 square feet and costs $2,400 a month. A nearly identical apartment will cost you another thousand dollars more.
Car insurance is also more expensive here. You pay twice what you paid in Richmond. When we moved here, we had to readjust a lot of things within our budget. I had to cancel some services and adjusted my retirement savings.
My apartment here is really nice. I decided I wanted to make sure I was happy with my living space, knowing that I had concerns about the state. If I was unhappy with the country’s politics and had an apartment that I hated, I would have been really miserable.
Florida is the right choice for me right now.
Living here has obviously been great for my relationship with Brandon. We were able to deepen our relationship and build a life together. That was the biggest benefit, and it was really great.
But thinking longer term, I don’t see myself living here for the rest of my life. This is a hot topic among us. I personally don’t think I would buy property here, mainly because of the climate risks from hurricanes and flooding.
I would like to buy real estate somewhere else, maybe Washington DC or Philadelphia, somewhere further north. Then you might be able to rent an apartment or condo here and become a snowbird. Because I don’t know if I’ll be able to get Brandon away from Florida completely. His roots are here.
And I always tell people: Love will make you do crazy things.
