On Thursday the Tampa City Council voted to expand anti-discrimination laws to include transgender individuals. The 5-1 vote came after two hours and more than 60 speakers spoke expressed their thoughts and feelings on the issue in what at times seemed to be a festival of hate and ignorance.
Before the meeting, the only drama in the room was who if any Council members would reverse their vote from two weeks prior, when they had voted unanimously to include gender identity and expression in the city’s human rights law, which would effectively prohibit workplace discrimination against people who change genders.
Councilman Charlie Miranda was the lone member who switched his vote and voted no. (Councilmember Linda Saul-Sena was absent). He seemed unsatisfied by the answers given by City Attorney Chip Fletcher about how the new law could avoid potential disruptions in the workplace before casting his dissenting vote.
But in perhaps his finest hour on the Council, Chairman Thomas Scott delivered a stirring speech before announcing that he would vote in support of the ordinance.
This article appears in Nov 18-24, 2009.