Almost exactly eight years after they voted to place a ban on county sponsorship of gay pride events in Hillsborough, the Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday morning voted unanimously to repeal that ban, 7-0. However, it wasn't without controversy.
That's because three of the four Republicans whose votes were in question before the meeting — Ken Hagan, Sandy Murman and Victor Crist — tried to make it clear, through proposed amendments or future policy discussions, that a vote against the policy was not a vote to fund gay pride rallies or similar events in the future.
Crist said that events like the ribald Fantasy Fest held annually in Key West would create "feuds" in Hillsborough, a much more socially conservative county, and therefore he needed some "comfort" that such events wouldn't be promoted or paid for by the county.
"Parading around in lingerie, pasties, G-Strings, and outfits that promote your sexual organs is not necessarily an appropriate thing to do in Hillsborough County, even though it's appropriate in Key West," said Crist, who was interrupted in the middle of his sentence by LGBT activist Nadine Smith, who shouted out "That's Gasparilla!" while sitting in the back row at the County Center.
This article appears in Jun 6-12, 2013.