(Tallahassee, Florida) Legislation that would prohibit anti-gay discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations has been introduced in the Florida legislature.

Currently, the Florida Civil Rights Act protects against discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap, or marital status The Deutch/Skidmore Civil Rights Bill would add "sexual orientation" and "familial status" as additional protected classes.

Florida's Fair Housing Act currently protects against discrimination in housing and public accommodations based on race, color, national origin, sex, handicap, familial status, or religion.
The legislation, introduced in the Senate by Ted Deutch (D-Boca Raton) and in the House by Kelly Skidmore (D-Boca Raton) would add "sexual orientation" and "marital status" as additional protected classes.

"All of Florida's civil rights laws should be consistent," said Palm Beach County Human Rights Council President Rand Hoch. The council had lobbied for introduction of the bills.
"Discrimination based on sexual orientation, marital status and familial status in employment, housing and public accommodations should be prohibited statewide."

In Florida, local laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians in employment and/or housing exist in 17 local jurisdictions, including Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties, and the cites of Key West, Miami Beach, Orlando, Tampa, West Palm Beach and Wilton Manors.

In a meeting with the Palm Beach County Legislative Delegation Council Vice President Deidre Newton asked the legislators to co-sponsor the rights bills.

"Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, Florida is not one of them....yet," said Newton .
Last week the council called on Gov. Charlie Crist (R) to issue an executive order prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in state employment. ( story)

In May, 2006, the Gallup organization asked 1,002 randomly selected adults aged 18 and above whether gay men and lesbians should have "equal rights in terms of job opportunities." 89 percent of Americans favored equal employment rights. Only 9 percent disagreed.

©365Gay.com 2007

TWO weeks ago, President Bush called for a long-term plan to increase the size of the armed forces. As our leaders consider various options for carrying out Mr. Bush’s vision, one issue likely to generate fierce debate is “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the policy that bars openly gay service members from the military. Indeed, leaders in the new Congress are planning to re-introduce a bill to repeal the policy next year.

As was the case in 1993 — the last time the American people thoroughly debated the question of whether openly gay men and lesbians should serve in the military — the issue will give rise to passionate feelings on both sides. The debate must be conducted with sensitivity, but it must also consider the evidence that has emerged over the last 14 years.

When I was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I supported the current policy because I believed that implementing a change in the rules at that time would have been too burdensome for our troops and commanders. I still believe that to have been true. The concern among many in the military was that given the longstanding view that homosexuality was incompatible with service, letting people who were openly gay serve would lower morale, harm recruitment and undermine unit cohesion.

In the early 1990s, large numbers of military personnel were opposed to letting openly gay men and lesbians serve. President Bill Clinton, who promised to lift the ban during his campaign, was overwhelmed by the strength of the opposition, which threatened to overturn any executive action he might take. The compromise that came to be known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” was thus a useful speed bump that allowed temperatures to cool for a period of time while the culture continued to evolve.

The question before us now is whether enough time has gone by to give this policy serious reconsideration. Much evidence suggests that it has.

Last year I held a number of meetings with gay soldiers and marines, including some with combat experience in Iraq, and an openly gay senior sailor who was serving effectively as a member of a nuclear submarine crew. These conversations showed me just how much the military has changed, and that gays and lesbians can be accepted by their peers.

This perception is supported by a new Zogby poll of more than 500 service members returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, three quarters of whom said they were comfortable interacting with gay people. And 24 foreign nations, including Israel, Britain and other allies in the fight against terrorism, let gays serve openly, with none reporting morale or recruitment problems.

I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the United States military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces. Our military has been stretched thin by our deployments in the Middle East, and we must welcome the service of any American who is willing and able to do the job.

But if America is ready for a military policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation, the timing of the change should be carefully considered. As the 110th Congress opens for business, some of its most urgent priorities, like developing a more effective strategy in Iraq, share widespread support that spans political affiliations. Addressing such issues could help heal the divisions that cleave our country. Fighting early in this Congress to lift the ban on openly gay service members is not likely to add to that healing, and it risks alienating people whose support is needed to get this country on the right track.

By taking a measured, prudent approach to change, political and military leaders can focus on solving the nation’s most pressing problems while remaining genuinely open to the eventual and inevitable lifting of the ban. When that day comes, gay men and lesbians will no longer have to conceal who they are, and the military will no longer need to sacrifice those whose service it cannot afford to lose.

John M. Shalikashvili, a retired army general, was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993 to 1997.

OKEECHOBEE - The message to gays in this rural cattle town is spoken politely, sometimes with a drawl, sometimes quoting the Bible, but the meaning is anything but a hospitable Southern welcome.

High school senior Yasmin Gonzalez has been hearing it a lot lately -- from kids hanging out bus windows shouting, ''Are you the one that's gay?'' to the teacher who said homosexuals should die.

Gonzalez, 17, has become something of a target since November, when the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on her behalf against the Okeechobee High School principal and school board for refusing to let her establish a Gay-Straight Alliance, an after-school club that promotes dialogue and tolerance.

''There's so much discrimination here,'' she says.

She is suing under the 1984 federal Equal Access Act, which ironically was initially pushed by evangelical Christians after some public schools banned after-school prayer meetings and other religious gatherings. It says that if a public school allows any extracurricular activities to meet on campus, it must allow all groups to do the same.

Similar challenges have been mounted by other groups in Utah, Georgia and North Carolina.

But public sentiment runs against Gonzalez in Okeechobee, a town of about 5,500 residents and around 60 churches 70 miles northwest of West Palm Beach.

''I don't think it's right. If they're going to let that in school, it's showing it's OK. In the Bible it says it's an abomination. [A Gay-Straight Alliance] is not a message you want to give your kids,'' 31-year-old Dave Mangold said, sitting on a picnic bench in the heart of town one afternoon.

Gonzalez doesn't believe in God or pray anymore, ''because you can only be told you are going to hell so many times,'' she says.

She has never really fit in here anyway, she says. She wears short, spiky hair and dresses like a boy.

ALTERNATIVE SITE

Because the school won't recognize Gonzalez's club, she holds meetings at an athletic complex about a mile away. The club claims about 50 members, but only Gonzalez and Jessica Donaldson, who is straight, were there on a recent Wednesday. Gonzalez says most supporters are afraid to talk to the media or banned by parents who fear it will affect their community standing.

At the same complex, she points to kids she's known since elementary school. Some of them, like senior Chris Curtis, don't think her group belongs in school.

''We don't want any part of it. I really can't stand the homosexual mind-set. I see it as a big problem in today's society,'' said Curtis, who plans to attend The Citadel.

Gonzalez says she never set out to make news, she just wanted to take her girlfriend to the prom. She gathered 500 signatures when the school told her they wouldn't allow same-sex couples, but nothing changed.

When Gonzalez tried to register her club, she said administrators first told her the school didn't allow any (despite listing more than a dozen on its website, like Future Farmers of America and Key Club). Later Gonzalez said she was told there were too many clubs, and finally that the school had an abstinence-only policy.

Despite numerous telephone calls, Superintendent Patricia Cooper declined to comment to The Associated Press. The school's attorney, Barbara Weller, also did not return several telephone calls.

Cooper, who attends a Baptist church in the area, did grant an interview to the Florida Baptist Witness, where she requested prayer from fellow Christians about the lawsuit.

''My position was then and remains that we are an abstinence-only district, that our clubs are primarily dealing with curriculum or curriculum-related clubs and organizations and we would decline the request,'' Cooper told the paper. ``We are an abstinence-only district and it's abstinence from any kind of sexual behavior, whether it's heterosexual or bisexual or homosexual, whatever it is.''

SCHOOL FILES MOTION

The school filed a motion in December to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the club is not a ''person'' protected under the federal act and that the principal was wrongly named.

But attorney Ron Rosenwald, who has been handling the lawsuit for the ACLU, said, ``The message that Okeechobee County is sending is that anti-gay harassment and discrimination is an acceptable policy there and that their gay and lesbian students are second-class citizens.''

Legal experts says Gonzalez's case is strong.

''It seems that the ability of the schools to deny this student's rights is kind of limited,'' said Robert Volk, professor of law at Boston University Law School. ``A school board acting like this gives free range to individuals who are out there harassing gay and lesbian students.''

Gonzalez knows she won't benefit from the suit. By the time anything is decided, she'll be off at college, hopefully studying mechanics.

''You shouldn't have to grow up feeling like you're alone,'' she said. ``It was just terrible. I saw that something was wrong and I'm trying to change it.''