Editors Note: Shelbi Day of Equality is Gainesville's Business and Jim Gilbert of Citizens for Good Public Policy debate the merits of Charter Amendment 1, which will appear on the ballot for the Gainesville City Elections held March 24.
Charter Amendment 1 reads:
The City shall not enact, adopt, enforce or administer any ordinance, regulation, rule or policy which provides or entitles any person to claim protected status, quota preferences or have a claim of discrimination based upon a classification, characteristic or orientation not recognized by the Florida Civil Rights Act (Fla. Stat. ss. 760.01-760.11 and 509.092). Any ordinance or regulation enacted before this amendment or after shall be construed in conformance with the Florida Civil Rights Act. Any ordinance that violates this provision shall be void.
Please summarize your position on Amendment 1:
Citizens for Good Public Policy:
"Citizens for Good Public Policy believes civil government has a fundamental obligation to maintain public safety, and urges the adoption of Amendment 1, which would require the civil rights categories enumerated in Gainesville's Code of Ordinances to conform exactly to the corresponding code of the State of Florida.
The immediate legal effect of the amendment's adoption would be the retroactive nullification of non-conforming categories, meaning that civil rights protections in Gainesville would be exactly the same as in the rest of Alachua County and most other Florida cities."
Equality is Gainesville's Business:
"We oppose Charter Amendment 1 because it promotes discrimination. If passed, Charter Amendment 1 would remove nondiscrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Since state and federal law do not yet prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, this means someone could be fired from their job, kicked out of their home or refused service at a restaurant simply because of who they are.
There is no place for discrimination in Gainesville. That is why groups like the Student and Faculty Senate and the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce have publicly opposed Charter Amendment 1."
If your opponent succeeds what are the possible effects on the way local, state and federal entities govern Gainesville citizens?
EGB: "If Amendment 1 passes, it would eliminate protections against discrimination which only exist at the local level, making it legal to fire someone from their job or kick them out of their home because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. It would take away our power to enact local nondiscrimination laws, and leave it to Tallahassee to decide what is best for Gainesville.
To be clear, Amendment 1 would prohibit the City from adopting or enforcing any nondiscrimination measures beyond those currently in state law. That means, not only would protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity be removed, the City could not add other protections, like veteran status."
CGPP: "The privacy and safety rights of Gainesville's residents, particularly women and children, will remain compromised.Sexual opportunists from peeping toms to predators - 263 of whom are registered as living inside the city limits - will be legally free to enter women's restrooms and other gender-designated public facilities.
And the Gainesville City Commission will continue to abuse home rule by passing special preferences disguised as civil rights, bullying the business community, engaging in social engineering and promoting the non-mainstream social agenda of out-of-state special interests instead of those of the people of Gainesville, Florida."
In Florida, it is not illegal for a person to use the opposite gender's public restroom, according to the Gainesville City Attorney. All Florida business owners have the right to establish separate bathrooms and refuse admittance to a particular individual. What does this mean for your cause?
EGB: "This means Charter Amendment 1 is not and never has been about bathrooms or who can go into them - it is about discrimination. Our opponents are using scare tactics with absolutely no basis in reality to try to fool voters into legalizing discrimination.
There are criminal laws that protect people from the dangers that supporters of Amendment 1 are using to try to scare voters. Amendment 1 is about discrimination - it takes away nondiscrimination protections and makes it legal to fire someone from their job or kick them out of their home because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Period."
CGPP: "The premise is untrue. Florida Statute, Title XXIX, Chapter 381, Section 381.0091 empowers businesses to designate restrooms and dressing rooms by gender for the purpose of prohibiting "any female from using a restroom or dressing room designated for males and any male from using a restroom or dressing room designated for females."
Assuming consent to disobey posted signs is absurd on its face. The signs designating such facilities in and of themselves constitute legal notice by the business. Further, the statute does not differentiate between gender and sex, and specifies that in state buildings (which would include UF and Santa Fe College) male and female restrooms "shall be separate," and designated by signs."
No complaints of discrimination have been filed on the basis of gender identity since the ordinance was amended. Of the 54 complaints filed in 2007, roughly two of them were on the basis of sexual orientation. What does this mean for your cause?
CGPP: "From Jan. 1, 2007 through Feb. 19, 2009, no complaints of discrimination were filed on the basis of gender identity. None. Zero.
The absence of a pattern of discrimination, which is routinely necessary in order to justify new civil rights legislation, proves that passing the Gender Identity Ordinance was utterly unwarranted, and is an example of the City Commission engaging in social activism rather than public service.
The voters of Gainesville can stop this abuse of home rule by voting YES to adopt Charter Amendment 1."
EGB: "One of the main purposes of nondiscrimination laws is to put the public on notice that discrimination will not be tolerated.
The fact that there were only two discrimination complaints means that the law is doing what it was designed to do - protect against discrimination.
But, even two discrimination complaints are too many.
If Charter Amendment 1 passes, these protections would be eliminated, sending the message that it is legal to fire someone from their job or kick them out of their home because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. If this happens, discrimination undoubtedly would increase."
