Joanne is a lesbian firefighter.
She protects all Gainesville citizens equally, she says through the TV screen.
And she asks that on March 24, voters allow Gainesville to do the same by voting "no" on Amendment 1.
The commercial is one of two by Equality is Gainesville's Business, which will hit cable channels today and run until the election.
The same commercials will air Thursday on network TV, including WCJB TV-20 and the CW.
"I could be fired from my job, or denied a home, for no other reason than my sexual orientation," Joanne says of Amendment 1 in the commercial.
The amendment would nullify Chapter 8 of the Gainesville Code of Ordinances, titled "Discrimination." Instead, protections would be provided by the Florida Civil Rights Act at the state level. In effect, this would remove protected status for transgender, lesbian, gay and bisexual Gainesville residents and loosen protections for other classes.
The second commercial features a group of eight people, each providing a few words to an overall message against the amendment.
A UF student, a reverend and Michael Bowie, the president of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, speak in the commercial.
"The NAACP, for a long time, has fought discrimination and is opposing Amendment 1," Bowie said.
Craig Lowe, a city commissioner and founder of Equality, declined to comment on the commercial's cost. As of February 13, Equality raised $59,015, the most money of any political action committee in Gainesville's history, according to the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections.
