Although the television cameras were down at the County Center on Wednesday to cover the potential public firing of County Administrator Pat Bean(which did not happen), the BOCC kept up their not so proud record when it comes to gay rights.
Several months ago, Commissioner Kevin Beckner suggested during discussions about the Kevin White saga that as staff went to correct the problems in their internal personnel policy that allowed White's aide to successfully sue White on sexual discrimination charges, that the County include sexual orientation in their internal personnel policy. That prompted Commissioner Jim Norman to respond that it was a "back-door" way of going around the ordinance, and expressed indignation.
On Wednesday, the board then voted 4-3 to reject the proposal by Beckner to extend non-discrimination protections to their LGBT employees.
Beckner was joined on the losing side by Rose Ferlita, and Kevin White.
When contacted by CL Wednesday night, Commissioner Beckner said it was "very unfortunate that some of my colleagues have chosen to play politics before people by adopting a discriminatory policy," adding, "I think it's a bad policy for our employees and for our community."
Beckner says the vote sends a signal that Hillsborough County is not open for Fortune 500 companies looking to relocate to this community. "I think we need to recognize and understand that everybody deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. It's not just about equality in the workplace. It's about bringing the community together."
The gay rights group Equality Florida was outraged by the vote, and sent out a press release that said in part:
Today’s vote is a step away from progress but we are committed to continuing our work so that all employees in Hillsborough County are protected from discrimination and harassment, including gay and transgender employees,” said Nadine Smith, executive director for Equality Florida.
In the wake of today's vote, Equality Florida is asking local elected officials to take a personal pledge that reads: "I pledge to prohibit discrimination and harassment with respect to the hiring or promotion of individuals, conditions of employment, disciplinary and discharge practices, or any other aspect of employment on the basis of sex, race, color, class, age, national origin, religion, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy or veteran status."
This article appears in Dec 16-22, 2009.