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County quashes gay issue

The Hillsborough County Commission, citing security, shakes up agenda to vote with little public comment.

By BILL VARIAN and KEVIN GRAHAM
Published July 21, 2005

[Times photo: Melissa Lyttle]

Terry Maki holds a rainbow flag, a symbol of gay pride, over his head Wednesday while protesting the Hillsborough County Commission's vote that forbids county government from acknowledging, promoting or participating in gay pride events.

TAMPA - Hillsborough commissioners touched off a tempest last month when, without discussion, they distanced themselves from gay pride events.

Wednesday, again without discussion, they quashed an effort to revisit the issue.

And they did so out of agenda order, while scores who showed up to speak on the issue were temporarily distracted by a gay rights rally outside.

Nadine Smith, leader of a gay and lesbian rights group, called the silent vote disrespectful, evidence that commissioners know their position is indefensible.

"There is victory in your silence," said Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, in addressing commissioners at the end of the meeting. "I think your silence comes from an inability to justify what you have done."

Commission Chairman Jim Norman said he decided to consider the issue out of order because County Center officers worried about their ability to keep the building secure with so many people lingering. The vote came shortly after the 10 a.m. gay rights rally began, not later in the day, as the agenda placement suggested.

"I did not want any at-risk situations to occur," Norman said. "I'm always going to put public safety before other issues."

It was an unusual step for a commission accustomed to drawing large crowds eager to weigh in on contentious issues. The commission has entertained standing-room-only crowds repeatedly in recent years, often setting up chairs in the County Center library to accommodate the overflow.

There were no chairs set up Wednesday.

The crowd came after commissioners received a request from the president of the Friends of the Library of Tampa-Hillsborough County Inc., who asked the board to review a June 15 vote banning gay pride acknowledgment by county government. That 5-1 vote, led by Commissioner Ronda Storms, followed a published account about the removal of a gay pride display at West Gate Regional Library.

Friends of the Library president Karen McClure called it "disturbing" that the board would "cease to acknowledge ideas of a segment of our community."

Expecting the issue to come up later in the meeting, even McClure arrived after commissioners dispensed with it.

As was the case last month, Kathy Castor was the lone vote of dissent when the rest of the board voted simply to "receive and file" McClure's letter without debate.

Castor said the June policy may violate state law that governs Hillsborough's library system. The law puts decisions about library materials in the hands of an appointed board. Library rules may be amended by the commission, but only on recommendation of the county administrator, which didn't happen in this case.

"That law was intentionally drafted that way to keep the meddling politicians out of the selection process for library materials," Castor said during a break Wednesday.

The June 15 vote, which applies to the county generally and not only to libraries, has spawned protests by gay and lesbian rights groups and other organizations. It has received national media attention and commissioners have been inundated with e-mails from around the country.

Wednesday's meeting drew a crowd that filled nearly every seat in the chambers, with another 40 or so people protesting outside the building.

The meeting opened, as usual, with 45 minutes for public comment on agenda items. Perhaps a dozen or more were able to speak, a fraction of those who signed up, most protesting the commission's position.

"I'm a homosexual, yes I am," said Al Giraud, who has filed a complaint against the commission with the city of Tampa's Office of Human Rights. "And I'm proud of it. God made me this way."

Three speakers praised the commission's June stand against promoting gay pride.

"They are sodomites and should be addressed as such, whether they like it or not," said Larry Keffer.

The crowd left the room, many planning to return to hear discussion of McClure's request.

Outside, Bart Birdsall, a Greco Middle School librarian who is gay, used a bullhorn to read from books on a gay pride display that was taken down at the West Gate Library. As Birdsall read, about a dozen people carrying rainbow flags and antiban signs marched in a circle around him.

Smith, of Equality Florida, was among them.

"This is about singling out a group of people for discrimination and putting the county's seal of approval on that discrimination," she told the crowd.

Wearing a name tag that read "Human Being," she asked business owners who disagree with the county ban to place signs in their windows to let patrons know they support diversity.

Instead of a boycott, she advocated a "buycott," directing spending at gay-friendly businesses.

Equality Florida plans to post a list of those establishments on the Web site www.buycottfl.org "Nationwide, people are already calling to boycott this area," said Michael Brill, president of the Tampa Bay Business Guild.

Local business owners, who had signed up to speak to commissioners but didn't get a chance, spoke to the crowd outside.

The crowd also drew a few hecklers.

Latrel Maloy, of Tampa, shouted out condemnation of homosexuality.

"God is not pleased with it!" he said. "It's wicked and it's wrong!"

The crowd responded almost in unison, "God bless you."

Upstairs, inside their nearly empty chambers, commissioners quietly accepted McClure's letter.

[Last modified July 21, 2005, 00:56:18]