Jacksonville, Florida: Where It's OK to Fire Gay People Because They're Gay

It's the largest city in Florida, and one of the largest cities in the entire United States. Nope, not Miami, Orlando, or Tampa. It's Jacksonville. And because the city has no protections related to sexual orientation or gender identity in its anti-discrimination ordinance, it's perfectly fine to fire LGBT employees, or deny LGBT people access to public accommodations or housing.

But a group of community activists and business leaders hope to change all that.

Last week, a community forum was held where members of the statewide group Equality Florida, as well as representatives from local businesses, met to formulate a strategy for introducing a proposal that would amend Jacksonville's anti-discrimination policies to include protections for LGBT residents. The goal is to get the City Council to take up the measure. But given the track record of Jacksonville's City Council, that may be a whole lot easier said than done.

Nadine Smith, the Executive Director of Equality Florida, said that adding anti-discrimination protections is the right thing to do, not only from a moral perspective, but from an economic perspective. Why? Because it's better for businesses when they're operating in a climate that is hospitable to all members of the work force. And she had some help from Jacksonville's largest employer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, to underscore her points.

"I would like to see it passed. As a large employer, it would be very helpful to us," Randy Kramer told the Florida Times Union. Kramer is the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy for Blue Cross Blue Shield, and added that it makes a difference when a community takes a stand as a whole to combat discrimination.

Of course, we mentioned that this was easier said than done. And in part that's because of the cast of characters on Jacksonville's City Council. Last year, the City Council turned into a sideshow over whether to allow a Muslim professor at the University of North Florida to join the city's Human Rights Commission. One member of the City Council, Clay Yarborough, suggested that Muslims and gay people should not be allowed to hold public office in the United States. And in the end, a whopping six City Council members voted against the professor joining the Human Rights Commission, because they thought it was too controversial to associate a Muslim person with human rights. Yikes.

So it might be a bit of an uphill climb. But that doesn't mean the climb isn't worth it. Local business owner Brock Fazzini, who owns Fazzini Coffee and Tea, told the Times Union that he's met with local Republican leaders, and they've been fruitful meetings. "The easy thing to do is say, this is Jacksonville, people don't want to change," said Fazzini.

But nobody wants to take the easy way out on this, not when so many people face the potential of losing their job, being denied an apartment, or being refused service because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Send Jacksonville a message urging their City Council to join every other major metropolitan area in Florida, and include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity in its anti-discrimination ordinance.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons