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They were called deviants, sinners, abnormal, an abomination before God.
Still, they kept their heads high and spoke eloquently of their struggle to find a place to fit in society and their need to be protected from those who would discriminate against them because they are different.
But in the end, the homosexuals and transsexuals who asked the Largo City Commission to protect them from discrimination left City Hall with nothing, stymied by a majority of four commissioners who defeated a proposed citywide human rights ordinance.
Today in Largo, it remains legal to deny people housing, jobs and motel rooms just because they are gay or transgender or because of their marital status. Mayor Bob Jackson and Commissioners Charlie Harper, Harriet Crozier and Jean Halvorsen apparently are okay with that.
At a five-hour public hearing on the proposed ordinance Tuesday night, a standing room-only crowd heard one speaker after another argue for or against the ordinance. Some of those in favor are homosexuals or transsexuals or represented groups of those individuals. They said they are taunted and discriminated against because of the way they were born and live their lives. Speakers who opposed the ordinance argued that it was an attack on the American family, an effort to redefine marriage, an effort to legitimize homosexuality even though the Bible calls it a sin.
Some well-known community leaders urged Largo commissioners to pass the ordinance, including County Commissioner Calvin Harris, Pinellas School Board Chairwoman Linda Lerner, and Largo High School principal Barbara Thornton.
Lerner reminded commissioners that the school district, the county's largest employer, has adopted policies to protect both its employees and its students from discrimination and harassment based on their sexual persuasion. She also noted, in response to those who argued that gays and transsexuals did not need protection, that those people have been "harassed, taunted, beaten and, yes, even murdered" in other parts of the country.
Thornton recalled when gay and lesbian students at Largo High formed a support group, and David Caton, head of the Florida Family Association, "launched a vicious attack against our students." The response of other Largo High students, parents and the School Board was to find new ways to protect and uplift those students.
Other speakers who supported the ordinance included Largo city employee and lesbian Lara Khoury, who said she works in Largo, lives in Largo, pays taxes in Largo and "I deserve to have the same protections as my neighbors."
She compared the drive to obtain civil rights protections for homosexuals to the effort women made to win the right to vote. That movement "began with individuals in communities just like this ... and look at our commission tonight." Five of the seven members of the Largo commission are women.
Janet Chandler, a Largo resident and transsexual who works for the Florida Highway Patrol, told commissioners, "We don't live in a perfect world. ... In the world of reality, there is hatred, there is discrimination. ... All we ask for is a chance to live our lives just like everybody else does."
One of the most affecting speakers was Largo resident J.B. Butler, an older man who recalled the murder of Matthew Shephard, a gay man, and said, "There is the extreme of what can happen when society will not protect its least defended." He told about a couple he and his wife knew years ago who had a baby and waited four days to tell their friends the baby was a boy. He learned later that the baby had been born with both male and female genitals and the parents had to decide which gender it would be.
But for every speaker who supported the ordinance, there was one who opposed it equally forcefully. Among those were ministers from several of Largo's Baptist churches.
The Rev. Matthew Trill of New Testament Baptist Church opposed the ordinance and said, "Like it or not, this is a moral issue" and "an unprecedented intrusion of local government into our private lives."
Dr. Richard Behers of First Baptist Church of Largo said, "It is never the right time to do what is morally wrong. You are asking this city to legitimize a lifestyle that is morally wrong." And he added, "If you pass this ordinance, I see a day when we will close down West Bay Drive for a gay pride parade. ... We've lost the word "shame' from the American dictionary."
Warren Andrews said that "God condemns this sort of (homosexual) activity." Said Largo resident Jimmy Dean, "I didn't know there was so many ... sexual deviants. ... If you do it (pass the ordinance), you'll pay the price." Other speakers also declared that any commissioner who approved the ordinance would be voted out of office.
And so it came down to a vote by seven city commissioners. Would Largo protect all of its residents from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations?
Mayor Jackson said no from the beginning of the debate about an ordinance and never wavered. He believed the city of Largo was not ready to accommodate everyone that way and that the proposed ordinance had divided the city. He said education was the solution to the problem of discrimination, not an ordinance. Commissioner Harriet Crozier also remained opposed, as she has from early in the discussions.
Commissioners Pat Burke and Pat Gerard still argued strongly for the ordinance, and Burke was passionate about it Tuesday night. "This is not a religious issue. This is not a moral issue. This is a human rights issue. We are the leaders in this community. It is up to the leaders to pass this."
New Commissioner Gay Gentry, who was a social studies teacher for 34 years, was the only commissioner who noted that the oath of office they took compelled them to uphold the U.S. Constitution, including the 14th amendment that guarantees everyone equal protection under the law. She said arguments she heard Tuesday night against the human rights ordinance were the same ones used to deny blacks their civil rights. She favored the ordinance.
It came down to Commissioners Charlie Harper and Jean Halvorsen. Both had declared months ago that they favored a human rights ordinance that provided protections for everyone. These were Harper's words in March: "It's about treating people fairly in the eyes of the law. I haven't found anyone who disagrees with treating people with dignity and respect." But over time, he admitted that people he respected around town had told him he was legitimizing a sinful lifestyle. He voted against the ordinance Tuesday. Halvorsen had expressed her dislike for any kind of discrimination. But Tuesday night, she voted to allow it to continue in Largo.
It was a crushing blow for those who had hoped for a different outcome. The discussion should have been about civil rights for everyone. It wasn't. It was about fear and religion and the power of religious conservatives in the Largo community.
But there was one positive aspect to Tuesday's meeting. For five hours, people young and old, liberal and conservative, straight and gay, sat side by side and really listened to each other. I watched men politely give up their seats to transgender individuals who had been standing. I saw straight people and gay people sharing a copy of an agenda. Though people on both sides of the debate expressed strong feelings, they did so civilly.
"I think it is neat we are here in this room and heard some very divergent opinions," Commissioner Gentry said. "Yet no one is taking up arms, and our police officers are not hauling people out of the room."
Perhaps that is something Largo can build on.