What a difference a decade makes.
When George W. Bush was running for the presidency in 2004, he and other Republicans were aided by the fact that bans on same-sex marriage were on the ballot in 11 different states, spurring conservative voters to come to the polls. At the Democratic Convention that summer in Boston, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was treated like a pariah by establishment Democrats (like Barack Obama) for allowing San Francisco to sanction same-sex marriages.
Anti-LGBT sentiment was codified in Hillsborough County the following summer, when the Board of County Commissioners voted to ban "gay pride" events, an edict that wasn't reversed until last year.
But even though the country has changed dramatically in terms of gay rights over the past ten years, Hillsborough County remains mired in that pre-2004 mentality, at least if you go by its record on certain policies. That was the case last year, when despite the fact that other municipalities such as Gulfport, Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Tampa had passed ordinances allowing for domestic partner registries, the BOCC rejected a similar proposal by a 4-3 vote.
But tomorrow the BOCC will revisit that domestic partner registry vote. They're also going to get an update on their vote from July instructing their attorney to begin amending the county's Human Rights Ordinance to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
It's difficult to understand how this is even controversial in 2014, isn't it?
In other news...
The House is in session this week, where they may or may not vote on a resolution authorizing war against ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria. Tampa Democrat Kathy Castor said she wants to be on record as voting for President Obama's plan, though she says she does have concerns about providing arms to Syrian rebels.
Anti-domestic violence activists gathered in Tampa yesterday to tells victims of abuse that there are places in the Tampa Bay area they can go to get help.
There are seven weeks before Election Day, which in Pinellas County means voters will decide on the Greenlight Pinellas initiative. The anti-Greenlight brigade may be getting more help in the form of contributions from the Orlando-based anti-tax group Axe the Tax, led by the controversial Doug Guetzloe.
And Nahla Al-Arian speaks. The wife of Sami Al-Arian was at an event on Saturday covered by CL's Ashley Whitney.
