Michele Rayner-Goolsby (born September 25, 1981) is an American attorney and politician. She has served as a member of the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

since 2020, representing District 70 in

Pinellas Pinellas is the name of a peninsula located roughly halfway down the west coast of Florida. It forms the western boundary of Tampa Bay and comprises the bulk of Pinellas County. There is a city named Pinellas Park in south Pinellas. The peninsula ...

, Hillsborough,

Manatee Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus ''Trichechus'') are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species ...

, and

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...

Counties. She is the first openly lesbian black woman elected to the

Florida Legislature The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Cons ...

Early life and career

Rayner was born and raised in

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2020 census, the city had a populat ...

. She attended

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

, receiving her

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in international affairs and political science in 2003, and

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in international affairs in 2006. After graduating from

Florida Coastal School of Law Florida Coastal School of Law was a Private university, private For-profit college, for-profit law school in Jacksonville, Florida. It was established in 1996 and was the last operating of three for-profit law schools of the InfiLaw System owned b ...

in 2011 and being admitted to the

Florida Bar The Florida Bar is the integrated bar association for the state of Florida. It is the third largest such bar in the United States. Its duties include the regulation and discipline of attorneys. The Florida Bar is also responsible for the governi ...

, she returned to Clearwater and worked as an assistant

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

in the state's Sixth Judicial Circuit, and then as a lawyer in private practice. Rayner is the lead counsel of Civil Liberty Law. She was also the local counsel of the

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Altho ...

. She is a member of the Fred G. Minnis Sr. Bar Association and

Delta Sigma Theta Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that assist the African American community. Delta ...

Florida Legislature

In 2020, Rayner ran for the

seat vacated by

Wengay Newton Wengay M. Newton (born August 27, 1963) is an American politician from Florida. A Democrat, he served two terms in the Florida House of Representatives from 2016 to 2020, representing parts of Pinellas, Sarasota, Manatee, and Hillsborough Counti ...

, who opted to run for the Pinellas County Commission. Rayner raised $116,900 in campaign funds, over double that of her nearest competitor. Rayner garnered 31.3% of the vote against three other candidates in the Democratic primary, with second-place finisher Keisha Bell receiving 26.8%. Rayner was elected without opposition in the general election. Rayner is the first black lesbian woman elected to Florida's legislature. She was endorsed by

Equality Florida Equality Florida is a political advocacy group that advocates for civil rights and protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) residents of the U.S. state of Florida. Equality Florida consists of two organizations - Equ ...

, the

Florida Education Association The Florida Education Association (FEA) is a statewide federation of teacher and education workers' labor unions in the US state of Florida. Its 145,000 members make it the largest union in the state. It is a merged affiliate of the American Fede ...

, Democratic Progressive Caucus of Florida, U.S. Representative

Charlie Crist Charles Joseph Crist Jr. (; born July 24, 1956) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 and as the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2022. Crist has been a member of the Democratic ...

, and Florida state representative Jennifer Webb. She was not endorsed by the

Stonewall Democrats Stonewall Democrats, also known in some states as LGBT Democrats, is a caucus within the Democratic Party that advocates for issues that are relevant to LGBT Americans. The caucus primarily operates through individual chapters or political clubs s ...

of Pinellas County. In April 2022, Rayner argued that the effort to repeal the

Reedy Creek Improvement Act The Reedy Creek Improvement Act, otherwise known as House Bill No. 486, was a law introduced and passed in the U.S. state of Florida in 1967, which established the area surrounding the Walt Disney World Resort, the Reedy Creek Improvement Distri ...

was emblematic of the "deep selfishness and the deep blind political ambition" of

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician serving as the 46th governor of Florida since January 2019. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th district in the U.S. House of Represe ...

, and adding that it is "unconscionable" that he is doing this effort on the "backs of working people." On April 21, 2022, Rayner attempted to stage a sit-in demonstration to prevent a vote on Florida's congressional district maps. Opponents of the tactic compared her actions to an insurrection. The demonstration was ultimately unsuccessful.

Elections

Personal life

Rayner is a black

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

woman. She is married to Bianca Goolsby.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rayner, Michele 1981 births 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women African-American activists 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women politicians Activists from Florida African-American lawyers African-American state legislators in Florida African-American women lawyers American civil rights lawyers American social justice activists LGBT African Americans LGBT lawyers LGBT state legislators in Florida Living people Democratic Party members of the Florida House of Representatives Place of birth missing (living people) Lesbian politicians Women civil rights activists Women state legislators in Florida Public defenders