As a longtime resident of St. Pete, how would you describe the changes that you’ve seen in the local LGBT community and its place in the city’s culture?
I am, my dad’s side of the family is from St. Petersburg, since the ‘50s, and I came down here in the 1990s, and have been here ever since. We have seen so much change in St. Pete, even in the last 10 years, it’s been pretty amazing. As you know, I was the first openly gay person to run for office [in Pinellas County] in 2005, and I took some hits along the way for that, but then, just less than 10 years later when I ran again, gay people running for office and getting elected was not as big a deal. Now, today, three of our eight city council members are openly gay, and now we have a lot more openly gay candidates running for office, and the fact about the sexual orientation is not necessarily the headlining characteristic about them. Voters really just want to know where people stand on the issues, and their involvement in the community.
Of course, in St. Petersburg, we elected Rick Kriseman back in 2013. We have a very gay-friendly mayor, who wears diversity and inclusion on his sleeve. In city council, three out of eight of our city council members are openly gay, so I think the message that St. Pete communicates to the rest of the world is that we are an open, diverse, tolerant city and we welcome everybody.
Speaking of that, we’ve also got the annual Pride parade quickly approaching, and relative to other cities, St. Pete sort of has a reputation for being relatively peaceful. I know in the past two years, police reported there were zero arrests during each of the parades, why do you think that is?
Well, there’s a lot of respect, our police work with the parade planners closely. I think many years ago it seemed like, as we were just getting started, it seemed like the police were protecting protesters from the rest of the crowd. We do take safety and security very seriously, but because we work so closely with our police department, it’s not like we are trying to create a police state when people just want to go out and have a good time and celebrate.
It's been two years since the tragedy at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, and some LGBT residents may still feel they might not be physically safe openly expressing that part of themselves in public. What’s the city doing to address those concerns?
Well, we did have a very strong presence of police at the parade two years ago, because it took place [right] after Pulse, and we were able to hold a peaceful parade and many events without incident. I think that the people who are in charge of managing crowds and security, they know how to keep a lookout for people that look like they could be carrying weapons, or are looking suspicious. So, I think I can safely say that the St. Pete police, the Sheriff, they really have our backs there and people should feel safe.
Since the Supreme Court’s recent decision in favor of the cake shop owner who refused to make a same-sex wedding cake, there’s been a lot of discussion of this leading to legally justifying further persecution of same-sex couples. What can be done at the local level to prevent this from happening?
The Pinellas County Human Rights Ordinance, which was led by St. Pete City Council, prohibits discrimination against LGBT individuals accessing public accommodations. On a statewide level, we need to continue to advocate for the Competitive Workforce Act. The Supreme Court’s decision sets a dangerous precedent, but it doesn’t affect our ability to prohibit discrimination on a local level.
This article appears in Jun 14-21, 2018.