BY MAGGIE McCRAW AND ELLEN BRICKLEY
MIAMI-"I'm here in support of the human rights ordinance,"
said Christopher Martin, a 20-year-old who was among the crowd
urging the Miami-Dade County Commission to pass a new human
rights ordinance that would ban discrimination against gays.
"This is not about special rights, it's about equal rights. True
justice should be blind to sexual orientation, race, age, or
nationalities," Martin said.
In a 7-6 vote, the commission narrowly passed an amendment December 1 adding the words "sexual orientation" to an existing ordinance that prohibits discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodation based on a person's age, race, religion, color, national origin, gender, pregnancy, family status, ancestry, marital status, or disability.
Today more than 100 cities and counties, as well as 18 states, have laws extending protection based on sexual orientation.
Dade County was in fact one of the first to pass such a law in 1977. But it was later reversed by a voter referendum following the virulent, antigay "Save Our Children" campaign led by singer Anita Bryant and TV preacher Jerry Falwell.
Referring to the December 1 victory, Rosemary Wilder said, "All we did today was to go back to where we used to be nearly 25 years ago." Wilder is a leader of SAVE-DADE (Safeguarding American Values for Everyone), a gay rights organization that mobilized support and lobbied commissioners for the past 18 months.
On the day of the vote about 500 antigay protesters, organized by the Miami-Dade County Christian Coalition, gathered at the downtown government center. About 200 advocates of the ordinance also held a spirited rally. There was a heavy police presence and the two sides were separated by police barricades.
Christian Coalition protesters distributed a flyer arguing that gays are not discriminated against. It stated, "Homosexuals have more education, have a higher per capita income, and are more likely to be employed in professional positions that others in society."
One of their signs said, "Equal rights for all-Special rights for none." Another blamed recent devastating hurricanes on gays, reading, "Mitch, Georges, Andrew are Samples We Want to Avoid.... No More Sodom-Gomorra for Our Families."
In answer, gay rights activists chanted, "Shame, shame, shame," "Ignorancia!" (Ignorance!), and "Separate church and state."
Advocates of the ordinance carried signs reading, "A House, a Job - What is So Special About Wanting That!" and "No Justice No Peace!" Another said, "Stop Using God to Hide Your Hatred."
"We are not asking for special rights, we're asking not to be fired, and that landlords don't ask us to leave our houses because we're gay," said Antonio González, who is originally from Venezuela.
Some gay rights activists shouted anti-immigrant remarks, such as, "We vote -you don't," at the Christian Coalition protesters, the majority of whom were Latino. This was also echoed by Miami Herald columnist Liz Balmaseda, an advocate of the ordinance. Her December 2 column stated, "I found a lot of people willing to cast opinions - but who could not cast votes to back them up. Foreign residents, they are not yet part of the county's votership." However, other participants in the rally told Militant reporters they did not agree with this.
Inside the public commission hearings some who spoke against the ordinance argued that businesses were being told who to hire and who not to hire.
"No one here is responsible for M. Shepard's death and please vote no," said another speaker. They were responding to testimony explaining that the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard proved that discrimination and prejudice still exist. Shepard, a Wyoming college student, was beaten by antigay thugs and died on October 12.
A broad range of endorsers of the ordinance were listed in a full page Miami Herald ad on November 30. The ad stated that unlike in 1977, the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami said it has no opposition to the amendment on moral grounds. Endorsers included the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, the South Florida AFL-CIO, the United Teachers of Dade, the American Jewish Congress, numerous religious leaders, neighborhood associations, and some south Florida city councils.
Representatives of the Service Employees International Union and the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees also spoke in favor of the amendment at the hearing.
Opponents of the ordinance pledged to work for its reversal. SAVE-DADE's Rosemary Wilder said gay rights activists are ready this time. "They are coming after us with a referendum and we are going to beat them again," she said.