When Charlene of Northwest Gainesville woke up Friday morning, she noticed something missing from several yards in her neighborhood: "Vote Yes on Amendment 1" signs.
"It's frustrating," she said. "I feel like I have a right to express myself."
According to Jim Gilbert, a spokesperson for Citizens for Good Public Policy, a pro-Amendment 1 organization, roughly 100 "Vote Yes on Amendment 1" signs were stolen from supporter's yards between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. Friday.
"There appears to be a coordinated effort to steal our signs as quickly as we can place them," Gilbert wrote in an e-mail. "Such theft is common during election seasons, as you probably know, but these all occurred on the same night and all over town."
Since then, there have been multiple reports of sign thefts in East Gainesville, Gilbert wrote.
Voters will decide on March 24 whether or not Amendment 1 would nullify Chapter 8 of the Gainesville Code of Ordinances, titled "Discrimination." If passed, 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.
Shelbi Day, a spokeswoman for Equality is Gainesville's Business, said she does not condone the sign thefts.
"We're focusing all of our energy on getting out our message, and our signs," Day said.
GPD spokesman Keith Kameg was unavailable for comment. Police reports filed by sign owners were unavailable at the time of publication.
Supporters in Charlene's neighborhood have replaced or plan to replace their signs, Charlene said.
