Robin L. Bodiford, P.A.

South Florida Activist Calls for Hold On
County Human Rights Amendment Change

Open letter to Transgender-Equality, friends, supporters and Honorable Broward County Commissioners:

I am responding to the current request to amend the Broward County Human Rights Amendment as it pertains to Sexual Orientation to add Transgender as a protected category, and amendments to the Domestic Partnership Ordinance. For those of us who were not here, or were busy doing other things in the 90's, I'd like to give you a little history, and some advice.

Back in the 1990's, 1994 through 2003 we had a group called Americans for Equality, (AFE) which organized, lobbied, and effected the change to the Broward County Human Rights Ordinance to include sexual orientation and thus providing protection against discrimination in employment, housing and public accomodations (a flawed amendment which inadvertently omitted gender identity). The small group of devoted gay activists which comprised AFE fought two petition referendums wherein Margaret Hofsteder, with financial backing from Calvery Babtist Church, and Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and Coral Ridge Minstries, and other deep pocket bigoted groups and individuals, almost succeeded in putting our Human Rights Ordinance regarding sexual orientation to a popular vote, seeking to overturn it, once in 1996 and again in 2001. In 2001, Calvery Babtist Church alone gave $100,000.00 to support her efforts. We raised $60,000.00 in 1996 and only $30,000.00 in 2001, in our campaigns to oppose her.

No state or national gay rights groups contributed any financial or actual support to our campaigns, and Equality Florida, despite its support for the proposed amendments, has assured me that no money or volunteers will be forthcoming from them to defend our rights here in Broward, as that is not what they do.

Margaret and her cohorts were only prevented from succeeding by the skin of our teeth in 2001, when they paid signature collectors from AROUND THE COUNTRY up to $20.00 per petition, resulting in getting enough petitions to put our rights to a popular vote, but also led to fraud by the paid signature gatherers which was uncovered by a vigilent DEMOCRATIC and GLBT FRIENDLY supervisor of elections, Miriam Oliphant, who is no longer with us, and has been replaced with a Bush appointee who will not commit her office to two weeks of counting 66,000 petitions one by one, the method which exposed the fraud. Our current supervisor of elections will surely elect the less effective method of spot checking large batches of petitions.

In the second attempt in 2000/2001 the group opposing our rights lied to the public at large, presenting them with petitions to repeal the Human Rights Amendment, saying "sign this to support the Boy Scouts" - and folks signed. (Our enemies had learned from their first effort that they had to lie about what they were up to.) They even had petition gatherers at gay pride, and GBBT people were signing petitions aimed at defeating their own rights.

We learned not to underestimate the stealth, tenaciousness, deciet, hatred, bigotry and FUNDING of those who are out to destroy us. Jim Naugle has been Mayor in Fort Lauderdale for well over 17 years (in my memory), in a "liberal" "gay-friendly" town. Its no mystery why. He has lots of allies with big bucks, as does Hofsteder, our avowed enemy.

Expect the currently proposed changes to the ordinance, both the Human Rights ordinance and the Domestic Partnership ordinance to provoke yet another petition drive, which would place our rights on the ballot in a presidential election year - the worst time, as that is the time when the most voters - especially the well organized right, show up at the polls.

Opponents of our rights now have the data to contact the 60,000, or so, legitimate petition signers from 2000/2001, so that they will likely be able to amass the necessary signatures in a very short time, especially while armed with incendiary anti-transgender rhetoric. The amendment will surely go on the ballot this time.

I think you can all imagine the incendiary rhetoric about our community the right would use to fire up the public's fears and defeat all our rights in one fell swoop, should our Human Rights Ordinance be put to a popular vote. I ask you all to think about this thoroughly. The difference between us here in Broward, and some other counties where there has been smooth sailing, is the virulent hatred, and organized, well funded mammoth religious institutions that back our enemies. Witness Jim Naugle's repeated re-election, year after year, despite his unabashed gay bashing our community.

Timing is everything.

We need to be strategic, see the forest, not just the trees. Prior to the 1995 amendment there were numerous town hall meetings where all the leaders of all the gay organizations from "Black and White men Together" to "Lambda Chorale" were personally invited to sit down with the proponents of the change, and finally unimously agreed to move forward, and only then did we go to the Human Rights Board. We had the entire community behind us, so that when the fight began, we had the allies who funded our campaign to keep our hard won rights.

Organization, timing, and a sharp look at our recent history should inform our strategy to move forward on amending our ordinances. I fully expect the current effort to amend the State Constitution to ban same-sex marriage will force Equality Florida to create a long needed gay friendly voter identification base, which will then be available to us when we have to defend our rights at the polls. As of now, no such voter i.d. has been developed and we are woefully unprepared for a campaign against us.

I think we should ask the Human Rights Board to vote to tell the County Attorney to put a hold on the proposed amendments. And then, after we've defeated the proposed Florida Constitutional Amendment to ban same sex marriage (which, when enacted, has been used in other states to defeat ALL RIGHTS AFFORDED TO DOMESTIC PARTNERS), only then, we move forward wisely and politically astute: gather all the GLBT leaders in one room to present the plan. They will then return to thier groups, and report what we have proposed, and at a second meeting we'll see what the support level is. Then, depending on the outcome we move forward either to educate and gain support, or finding we have it, only then move forward with the proposed amendments.

United in the struggle for equal rights, we can prevail. However, we must look to the past as well as the future, work together wisely and strategically.

Sincerely,

Robin L. Bodiford, Co-chair AFE 1996, Chair AFE 2001

http://robinbodifordlaw.com