The political committee for Florida’s largest LGBTQ public policy organization is endorsing Anna Eskamani in Florida’s House District 47.

Equality Florida Action Political Action Committee announced Eskamani’s endorsement as the group’s first in the 2018 election cycle, noting that HD 47 is home to both a large lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, as well as the Pulse nightclub, site of the horrific 2016 mass murder and now an international symbol for the community’s fight for rights and acceptance.

Eskamani, an Orlando-based executive with Planned Parenthood and a Democrat, faces Winter Park businessman Stockton Reeves, a Republican, in the 2018 contest.

“House District 47 is going to be one of the most competitive state legislative races of 2018, and we’re putting a marker down for our members and supporters early and clearly. It’s no accident that this is our first 2018 endorsement,” Joe Saunders, Equality Florida’s senior political director and a former member of the Florida House himself, said in a news release issued by Equality Florida.

“Anna Eskamani has a long history of fighting for all marginalized people, especially LGBTQ communities,” Saunders continued. “She’s the real deal and we can’t think of a better person to represent downtown Orlando, Winter Park and South Orlando’s diverse LGBTQ communities. We need her passion, vision and talent in Tallahassee now more than ever.”

Republican incumbent state Rep. Mike Miller of Winter Park is running for Congress rather than a third term.

“I have had the honor of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Equality Florida and our LGBTQ community in efforts to ensure that all people can be their authentic selves without judgement, shame, or fear,” Eskamani said in the release. “I refuse to forget those we lost at Pulse or those whose lives were shattered by the horrific intersection of gun violence and bigotry. When I’m elected I promise to do everything I can to take on discrimination against our LGBTQ community, honor with action those hurt or taken at Pulse and fight for the thousands who die senselessly from gun violence every year.”