Gay Anti-Discrimination: Good News From Gainesville

Gainesville, Florida, upon first glance, wouldn't be one of the cities at the top of my list known for much tolerance of LGBT issues. But, I'm happy that over half of the Gainesville residents who participated in the March 24th vote to maintain current anti-discrimination protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents just proved me wrong.

Almost 60% of the voters gave a thumbs down to a measure that would have stripped away an anti-discrimination ordinance, which also includes protections for transgender residents to use a male or female public restroom of their choice. Most importantly, the ordinance protects the city's LGBT community against job and housing discrimination.

Surrounded by notoriously conservative northern Florida, should Gainesville now be considered a "gay-friendly" city -- or was it simply the high turn out of liberal-minded University of Florida students who were responsible for swinging the vote more toward equality?

Comments

[Bob]

The folks who wanted to remove the anti-discrimination ordinance had said that it would allow men in women's rest rooms because of protection of transgender citizens. Then just convert all public restrooms to no-gender restrooms, problem solved. A bit of a cultural adjustment, but can be done. Never understood the gender separation anyway.
PS - "transgender" comes up in this message box as misspelled. Is it??

[Brandi]

I was a student leader of what was then called the LGBSU at the University of Florida way back in the 1990s when Gainesville first added the ordinance. I remember attending city council meetings and participating with the very hard-working Human Rights Council of North Central Florida, and I can tell you that Gainesville is liberal not just because of its student population but because of the many people who stay there after graduation because they love living there. The community and the students worked together when I was there, which, I think, is a bit of a rare occurrence for a college town, and I do believe it's still much the same way there today. There are the conservative outliers, but on the whole, Gainesville is a place that thrives on its diversity, which is reflected in many different facets of Gainesville life. It has been called by some the Berkeley of the South, and by others "a liberal island in a sea of rednecks". It is a refuge in the wilderness, and I congratulate the people of Gainesville for such a fantastic result in the election. Thank you for making sure that equality is preserved.