Transgender Ordinance Passes
In spite of a huge turnout against the addition of “gender identity” as a protected class equal to race, age, gender, national origin, religion. disability, and marital status, four of the Gainesville City Commissioners held to their guns that they knew better and voted to pass the amended ordinance. Mayor Hanrahan and commissioners Mastrodicasa, Lowe, and Donovan held that majority rule did not hold sway when the majority wants to discriminate against an oppressed minority.
It was a night of accusations and counter-accusations as the African American community showed up in large numbers and was particularly harsh in its criticism of Sherwin Henry, who had originally supported the ordinance. The city’s only black commissioner was badgered between sessions and during the citizen comments, even being defrocked by one speaker, who told him, “You are no longer a minister!”
The smaller number of supporters of the ordinance attempted to shame the anti-ordinance crowd, which was largely members of Gainesville churches, painting them as the very reason why this amendment was needed. Local homeless advocate Pat Fitzpatrick stridently accused the Christians who came out of being hypocrites for not showing up to support the homeless. One woman claimed to have been gang-raped the police in 1959 during a raid on homosexuals. She made the case that it was sad that so many Christians were afraid and angry about the ordinance, because she knew what real fear was. Christians did not back down, however, and kept reminding commissioners that they were their constituents, too.
More later…
Transgendered view on anti-discrimination:
I am transgendered, and you wouldn’t know that I was one in passing unless I told you. I am a law abiding citizen from Gainesville Florida. I am on my way into the San Jose Police Department, and I am proud to be a tax paying American, as long as I am treated equally and I give the same respect I feel that I deserve to you. I am not some circus freak. I am not a pedophile and I dare anyone to even associate me with such a despicable lifeform such as that. And let me tell you of my experiences in Florida that was so blatantly ignored that is finally starting to be addressed. I lost my job, I had my place burned by the KKK, I had been shot at, and for what? Your fears? I want to
1live a normal life and I want to live a peaceful life without fear of discrimination in any case. Back then, just a year ago, the police ignored my cries for help as my place was being burned. They ignored my outcries when I worked at a gas station. Now, will they ignore it? Do you understand that I was almost killed and I am a law abiding citizen who is trying to live a life in peace? Shouldn’t I have the same benefits as you do? That’s all I ask for, is a life where I can finally live in peace. And that is why I ran from Florida to California with nothing but my car, because almost all of my possessions were lost because of hate groups in Gainesville. I am glad to see that some people are finally waking up to see that we’re not bad people, and that we work legitimate jobs, such as I will be in the
police department.