LGBT Discrimination Measure Creates First Election Battle of 2009

We're not even a full week into 2009, but already the first election battle over an LGBT rights issue has been cast.  March 24.  Gainesville.  Florida.  (Sounds a little Wrestlemania-like when you write it in short sentences.)

In 2008, Gainesville's city council passed a measure that extended the city's anti-discrimination policy to transgender individuals.  The policy had already protected people based on race, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation.  But the addition of "gender identity" to the measure drew the ire of local anti-gay activists, known collectively as (get your sick bag ready) Citizens for Good Public Policy.  As a result, they held a petition drive to put the measure on the ballot.

Sadly, they succeeded.  And now, if their petition passes on March 24, not only will the city of Gainesville rescind the anti-discrimination policy toward transgender individuals, they'll also rescind it for folks who are lesbian, gay or bisexual, too.  How is fostering discrimination toward a group of people considered "Good Public Policy"?

According to the Gainesville Sun:

Anti-discrimination uproar: It's been a saga worthy of a novel. City commissioners brought in the year 2008 by extending the Gainesville anti-discrimination law to protect transgender individuals.

Including the words "gender identity" into an ordinance that prohibits discrimination in housing, employment, credit and public accommodation, motivated a group of residents to attempt to repeal the ordinance.

Residents gathered 6,343 signatures to put a charter amendment on the March 24, 2009 ballot.

The amendment, if passed, would not only repeal protections for transgender individuals but also protections for gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals that the commission passed in 1998.

Since the days of Anita Bryant, Florida has been the home of a number of anti-gay initiatives, including 2008's Amendment 2, which passed with a 62 percent majority and could lead to the dissolvement of any form of domestic partnership benefit offered to straight and LGBT couples.  This unnecessary (and discriminatory) measure in Gainesville would certainly add insult to injury.

Today, a new statewide group launched in Florida to organize and fight back against anti-gay measures like Amendment 2 and the March 24 Gainesville charter amendment.  Known as Organizations United Together (OUT), leaders in Florida have created a new statewide gay rights group formed from several local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied organizations.  Says C.J. Ortuno, the Executive Director of SAVE Dade and one of OUT's coalition partners:

“For several years, local LGBT organizations have been working together informally on common issues such as human rights ordinances and domestic partner benefits.  OUT will provide a network to continue this work and unite on important statewide projects, such as passing a statewide anti-discrimination law, repealing the ban on gay adoption, and defeating the discriminatory charter amendment to be considered by Gainesville voters on March 24th.”

The organizations that comprise OUT have a successful record of winning gay rights battles in locales across Florida. They'll need all of the support they can get on the statewide level now.  Wouldn't winning on March 24 send a message that despite the election results of 2008, LGBT rights folk know how to fight fire with fire when it comes to political organizing?

For more information, including a list of the board members of OUT, check out Steve Rothaus' Gay South Florida blog here.