Live Blogging City Council. main issue: bill 2012-296, human rights bill

[AshleyLauren]

Audrey Moran "This bill is good for Jacksonville. This bill has broad community support. People from all across our city are urging you to bring our city in line with other metropolitan cities and ban all remaining types of discrimination. Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest in the country, voted yes on this bill last Friday."
Audrey Moran reminds the council members that they took an oath to protect all members of the community.

[TheCat]

Kim's last question was probably her first almost relevant question. She was trying to ask, and she didn't really, what are the potential legal ramifications for employers when it comes to the legal gender vs the stated gender of an employee.

[Tamara-B]

"Public opinion is clearly on our side, " says speaker.

That's definitely one of the best lines I've heard all night on this matter

[RiversideLoki]

10 minute break. And all of the MJ staff runs out to either smoke or inhale second hand.

[AshleyLauren]

10 minute break. And all of the MJ staff runs out to either smoke or inhale second hand.

ahaha, Funny because there was a recess and we actually all came to the front!

[Tamara-B]

Does Jacksonville want to be known as a city that scares people off? These testimonials are a cry for help. All night I've heard the word "please".

"I'm asking you to PLEASE pass this bill."
"PLEASE consider giving everyone equal rights"

[RiversideLoki]

I will trust this speaker when she tells me the amount of cats she owns.

[AshleyLauren]

 It seems as the night goes on the testimonies become more personal. Reminding me of what Council Member E. Denise Lee's comment in the beginning that it takes courage to take a stand. Again, speaker after speaker takes the stand to tell their stories of discrimination in Jacksonville. The City Council members body language is questionable. Several with their heads down, some with their chins resting on their hands, and others in a blank stare portrayed across their faces. No one has asked a question in a while and you have to wonder what is going through their minds right now. Have they zoned out and are no longer present? Or have they already been convinced of how to vote?

Well, the woman that just took the stand claiming 54 years of celibacy and that this is not at all about sexuality woke the council members and some of the audience up.

[AshleyLauren]

Correction made about DSM comment. Homosexuals are human beings. And as human beings we have rights.

Jacksonville must be progressive in its policies in order to compete. Laws need to be changed. Up the anti-discrimination policy. It is time for progress to happen again in Jacksonville.
Did anyone catch that woman's name?? Or where she was from??

[TheCat]

crowd has thinned out. Speakers are in support of the bill. Nothing pronounced or profound. Council members, like the people in the gallery are kind of fading...or, maybe, I'm projecting. There is a reporter sitting beside me and she is editing footage of the meeting. I've been looking at Kim Daniels on a perpetual loop for the last hour on her laptop. 

A speaker opposed to the bill, represents herself as sexually neutral. She has a few arguments:
1) freedom of association - without explanation 2) An employer that needs to lay someone off chooses the straight person for fear of a lawsuit if the person who is homosexual (etc) is fired.

Warren Jones, Bill Sponsor,  points out that the bill does not apply to employers that have 15 or less employees.

[sheclown]

"We are not doing this just for Jacksonville..."

Beautiful words.

[TheCat]

I will trust this speaker when she tells me the amount of cats she owns.

Are you referring to Kim Daniels?

[sheclown]

"Please show me my city will protect me."

A tearful cry from a long time resident.

[RiversideLoki]

I will trust this speaker when she tells me the amount of cats she owns.

Are you referring to Kim Daniels?

Also the eunuch.. Which could also be referring to K.D....

[Tamara-B]

Listening to more testimonies, I'm learning that not only are lgbt community members being discriminated against but PERCEIVED lgbt members are getting the flack. A woman's deep voice, short hair, and masculine fashion sense means she is gay? This goes back to what we are taught in math, science, and psychology: correlation NOT causation.