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It wasn't long after that embarrassing vote by Ronda Storms and the Hillsborough County Commission, the one where they prohibited displays of works by gay authors in the library system, that an e-mail from an arts patron came to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.
"We are so appalled by the recent antigay votes by the Hillsborough County Commission that my husband and I (we are not gay) will be reducing our expenditures in Tampa," wrote Pinellas County resident Elinor Gollay.
"One percent of the sales tax goes to the county. Why would we choose to give them money? Whenever we have a choice of seeing a performance in Tampa or somewhere else in the area (such as Ruth Eckerd or Van Wezel), we will NOT go to Tampa (and) I will be doing everything I can to discourage my friends from spending money in Tampa."
TBPAC president Judy Lisi was already plenty angry about the vote before that e-mail arrived. That e-mail, and other similar comments she's received, goaded her even further.
"See that?" Lisi said, her voice rising in anger and frustration. "We're getting the blame."
Arts leaders in Hillsborough County, most of whom are straight, took the vote very personally.
But the arts - all the arts, from painting to poetry to theater to modern dance - are about invigorating the human spirit. They're about celebrating what is best in our nature, and about commiserating over our weaknesses. They're about inclusion. When they're not, they become propaganda.
So, while the arts are, at least theoretically, a key part of plans to revitalize Tampa's downtown, the Hillsborough County Commission passes an ordinance that punches the art community in its collective gut.
The reaction, almost across the board, has been a combination of anger, stunned silence and strengthened resolve.
"My first reaction," said Anna Brennen, producing director of Stageworks, one of Tampa's oldest professional theater companies, "was I have to do more gay plays.' "
Like so many of the normally eloquent arts leaders in Hillsborough County, Brennen says her anger about the resolution has essentially left her nonplussed.
"There are no words," she said. "It's about the First Amendment, about academic freedom, about censorship. There are no words."
"I just don't know what to say," TBPAC's Lisi said. "It just doesn't make sense. I'm just at a loss about what to say."
"I'm just speechless," said Susan Alexander, senior director of conservatory administration at the Patel Conservatory. "A free library system is fundamental to a democratic society. You like to think we're moving forward, but we're going the other way."
In a way, the commission's vote shouldn't be such a surprise. A little more than a decade ago, the same body went to the time, trouble and expense of holding massive public hearings that ended in the repeal of the Human Rights ordinance, an existing law that was aimed at making discrimination against gay people illegal.
Back then, there was a different kind of backlash from the arts community. Some arts leaders wondered publicly why they bothered to work so hard in a community that holds such attitudes. Some feared that touring shows and performing arts groups would avoid Tampa. And several national rock bands that had planned to come to Tampa for a music festival canceled.
Ironically it was the "gay community" - to the extent that such an entity truly exists - that came to the rescue. With the support of the Tampa Bay Gay Men's Chorus, a convention of gay and lesbian singing groups from around the world came to Tampa. Local gay rights groups published a list of businesses that pledged not to discriminate against gay people, a sort of reverse boycott, and many small businesses got a noticeable boost in sales during the convention.
The economic impact from that convention makes the latest probigotry vote even more astounding to arts leaders.
"It was the biggest convention that had ever come to Tampa," Lisi said, "and there were people who didn't even want that. They say they're all about tourism and economic development, and then they do things like this."
But this time, arts leaders don't seem discouraged, just emboldened.
"It just makes me want to work harder," Alexander said.
It's possible that they haven't felt the real (i.e., economic) effects of the resolution yet, just the emotional one. TBPAC has received only a handful of letters from people who are going to avoid the center, but for every person who writes, there are many who feel the same way. It's also too early to tell whether touring groups will bypass the area, although at the moment no one seems worried.
Most significant, perhaps, is the effect on funding. Many local arts groups count on grant money from the Arts Council of Hillsborough County. Is that money in jeopardy if a theater company produces Angels in America or even Tea and Sympathy? What about plays by Edward Albee or Tennessee Williams?
It's almost too chilling to think of the possible effect on public schools. Will English teachers and theater programs be too intimidated to assign or produce works by gay playwrights?
And of course, there's the question of what draconian measures might come next. If the commission can quash books by gay authors, what art might they prohibit next?
No one really knows.
Nancy Doyal, who takes over next week as executive director of the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, would like to see the commission do some self-censorship.
"People with low IQs bother me more than any minority," she said.
Marty Clear, who lives in Sulphur Springs, is a frequent contributor to the St. Petersburg Times.