Transgender Rights in Broward County, Fla.

By William Butte
"I just don't think there should be all these little laws protecting everybody."

In words practically dripping with condescension, Barbara Collier, chairwoman of Broward's Christian Coalition, recently expressed her disapproval at the idea of the Broward County Commission extending "little laws" through the county's Human Rights Ordinance to protect transgender folks from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.

With the focus of a religious zealot, Collier said she'd not only try to block the new provision but would support using it to launch an all-compassing repeal effort in yet another attempt to overturn the ordinance's similar protections for the gay community.

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The threat of such action has gay leaders in the county divided.

Some want county commissioners to include transgender protections as soon as possible - even if three county-wide elections next year would give opponents like Collier three opportunities to get a repeal referendum on the ballot, at the same time the gay community faces a proposed statewide ballot measure next November that would ban same-sex marriage and domestic partnerships.

Other leaders, however, feel it's best to wait until next May before adding transgender protections to the county ordinance, which would thwart any attempt at a repeal until at least 2010, giving transgender supporters time to organize, raise money and allow anti-transgender sentiment to cool, while allowing the gay community to focus resources next year specifically against the anticipated amendment to ban same-sex marriage and domestic partnerships.

But just how controversial is the idea of expanding anti-discrimination protection to the transgender community in South Florida?

When the Oakland Park City Commission met last month and unanimously agreed to proceed with adding gender identity and expression to the city's anti-discrimination policy to protect the rights of its transgender employees, no one spoke out against it.

Additionally, transgender protections have passed in Key West and Monroe County in 2003, in Miami Beach in 2004, and in West Palm Beach and Lake Worth earlier this year, minus any public outcry.

Nationally, a poll commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign in September 2004 found that 65 percent of respondents thought it should be illegal to fire or refuse employment to someone because they are transgender.

However, the issue of transgender rights isn't without controversy in Florida. Earlier this year, Largo city commissioners bowed to the uproar of religious and social conservatives and subsequently fired the city manager when it became public knowledge that he was about to transition to a woman, even though Largo prohibits discrimination in public employment on the basis of gender identity and expression.

And with Collier's forewarning, it appears if Broward County commissioners vote to include transgender folks to the county's Human Rights Ordinance this year, religious and social conservatives will launch an all-encompassing repeal effort next year to block the new provision and rescind current protections to the gay community against discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations, and the ability to register as domestic partners.

But maybe a public battle waged against the basic civil rights of Broward's GLBT community, brought about at the same time as a proposed state-wide amendment banning same-sex marriage "or the substantial equivalent thereof" by religious and social conservatives who innocently claim they simply want too define marriage without jeopardizing "rights to unmarried persons," will help the GLTB community by exposing fair-minded Florida voters to the hypocrisy and lies of our opponents. And perhaps through that, Florida's heterosexual couples in a "substantial equivalent" relationship to marriage will question whether they've been told the truth that with the amendment in place future court decisions won't strip away their rights.