A tale of two Floridas on LGBT attitudes?

The worst attack on the American gay community revealed there's two "Floridas" representing opposite views on homosexuality.

There's the Key West which the Associated Press labeled as the "first Florida" for its gay-friendly environment where 450,000 lesbians, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) tourists visit every year. The city's police chief is gay, its county mayor is lesbian, and it also elected the nation's first openly gay mayor.

"It's a safe place; they know that they are free from judgment, free from hassle, free from physical violence," Guy Ross, Monroe County Tourist Development Council's LGBT sales head, told AP. "We do not tolerate gay bashing down here. It just doesn't happen."

On the other hand, AP considered Panhandle the "second Florida" for its wider conservative attitude toward the gay community. This is where a Santa Rosa clerk refused to perform gay marriages and where Equality House closed down for lack of funding.

However, some Panhandle residents disagreed with this portrayal.

"By some measure you might think of them as more progressive," Louis Copper with Gay Grass Roots of Northwest Florida told WearTV.

He continued, "I know as a gay man living in Pensacola I don't feel threatened. I do not feel unsafe."

Councilman Larry Johnson also expressed his disappointment with their portrayal because he thinks they are LGBT-friendly.

In 2014, The New York Times listed The Florida Panhandle as a recommended gay destination.

"One might not instantly think of Florida's Panhandle as gay-welcoming due to its conservative nature, but it has long been a refuge for gay Southerners looking for a beach getaway," said owner and editor-in-chief of Gay Travel Information, Desiree Sousa, who wrote in an e-mail.

Sousa recommended Destin, Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola "especially for L.G.B.T. families with children" not for its gay nightclubs but "because of its overall welcoming attitude toward the L.G.B.T. traveler, something I have experienced time and time again."

On his defense, AP writer Brendan Farrington explained that he didn't consider the region as gay-friendly as the rest because of its legislation.

Farrington quoted John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, who claimed that Florida's laws have nothing to do with the Orlando shooting tragedy.

"It wouldn't have made a bit of difference. Pulse would still have happened," Stemberger told AP.