Live blogging the vote for 2012-296, human rights ordinance.

[Garden guy]

This shouldn't be a suprise...our council is nade up of its people..this vote tells us that jacksonville is a biggoted religious group.
Our council would kill a baby at council if first baptist said  jesus would likke that...this is rediculous but telling who my neighbors are...

[finehoe]

http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/maps-of-state-laws-policies

[simms3]

^^^Good resource for statewide laws.  You can see that the same states offer the same protections for gays and transgender people and just about the entire south comes up blank every time, even with anti-bully legislation and hospital visitation.

If you're gay in the south, you have just a few options of true gay friendly areas with large communities and support networks and less discrimination: Atlanta, Miami, Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans and Key West.  Nashville's community seems to be growing, as well, and so is Charlotte's.  Nearly 15% of the citizens of Atlanta actually identify themselves as gay on Census surveys and the actual percentage is likely higher.  You can't have the shenanigans you have in Jacksonville with that large a percentage...you'll never be voted into office if you *don't* support the gays.  We're talking city limits here with this small group of southern cities.  It's also no wonder that these are places of big time commerce, are urbanizing really quickly, attracting the educated and seeing a lot of success where other cities in the south are not.  Coincidence?

As long as Riverside is a tiny little island in a mostly Republican/suburban city with the same municipal boundaries, don't expect much change on any front.  And it is shocking Lumb voted against his constituents.

[mtraininjax]

“We will make sure we expose the Republicans who were basically traitors,” said Raymond Johnson II, a political consultant and president of a conservative religious nonprofit. “They have betrayed God and the Bible. They betrayed their faith, their constituents, the Constitution and their party.”

This guy sounds like a religious NUT! Yikes!

Simms - You talk about Atlanta as having taken the high ground. There was a time during the 80s, it was as conservative as Jacksonville is now, with Jax then being Homer Lindsay conservative. Atlanta had issues in midtown, the perception was that the LG community was spreading AIDS and the poverty in midtown was in direct proportion to the LG community, then came the growth of the 90s and as Midtown grew, so did the tolerance, and the Olympics helped as well. Now with a thriving LG community, Atlanta is no longer the pariah it once was in the Bible Belt. I was there to witness this first hand, and while the city still looks to recover from the Campbell/Arrington days, it still has far too many potholes and other issues within the inner city.

As I stated at the beginning, No on this does not mean the end, it is a beginning, to get on the record where people stand and work with them to change their mind and show them that support LGBT community is not harmful  to them and in fact is the right thing to do to move the City of Jacksonville down the road. The day will come again and it will pass, but we cannot blame people for ignorance, we end up back at the same point with the same problem.

[Jimmy]

“We will make sure we expose the Republicans who were basically traitors,” said Raymond Johnson II, a political consultant and president of a conservative religious nonprofit. “They have betrayed God and the Bible. They betrayed their faith, their constituents, the Constitution and their party.”

That guy is something else.  But he outta be careful.  Language like he's using is an attempt at bribery according to one Councilman.  Voters are apparently not allowed to publicly hold our leaders accountable or threaten to vote for or oppose their political ambitions based on their legislative records.

[mtraininjax]

Jimmy, proud of you man, glad to see you take the high road. I have many LGBT friends, if I can help, just ask! It will happen, this will just take some time.

[Jimmy]

Thank you!  We always knew this might take two or three swings at-bat before scoring a run.  This issue is added to the mix of so many other things we need to work on.  But I'm glad it's finally a topic of conversation. 

[vicupstate]

There was a time during the 80s, it (Atlanta) was as conservative as Jacksonville is now.

So Jacksonville is about 20-30 years behind Atlanta?  Yeah, that's about right. Well, maybe 20-30 years behind Miami/Tampa/Orlando/insert city here.

[avs]

Because Gaffney has admitted to being confused over what he was voting on, he CAN bring the bill back and vote for it. Let Gaffney know you want him to ask for a reconsideration of the vote. Gaffney@coj.net

"Matt Carlucci, a former council president who supported the bill, said if Gaffney was confused about what the council was voting on, he has the ability to bring it back for another vote."

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-08-16/story/jacksonville-supporters-human-rights-bill-press-councilman-reconsider#ixzz23oWJ4my5

[mtraininjax]

So Jacksonville is about 20-30 years behind Atlanta?  Yeah, that's about right.

We quickly forget that Homer Lindsay was the most powerful man in Jacksonville, it takes some time to allow that luster to wear off. FBC is still powerful, just not the iron fist they used to rule with, and Jacksonville has grown because of it, but we are still a conservative town in most parts.

[Jimmy]

Because Gaffney has admitted to being confused over what he was voting on, he CAN bring the bill back and vote for it. Let Gaffney know you want him to ask for a reconsideration of the vote. Gaffney@coj.net

"Matt Carlucci, a former council president who supported the bill, said if Gaffney was confused about what the council was voting on, he has the ability to bring it back for another vote."

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-08-16/story/jacksonville-supporters-human-rights-bill-press-councilman-reconsider#ixzz23oWJ4my5

Here's something a friend of mine posted on facebook this morning:

Councilman Gaffney ran for re-election with the endorsement of the Equality Florida Action PAC, after he indicated his support for "policies banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, employment, public accommodations and other vital areas" in their questionnaire. He also indicated support for other areas of interest to the GLBT community in that questionnaire.

[avs]

Bombard him with emails, reminding him of that endorsement and demand that he bring it back for reconsideration

[Anti redneck]

Yep! This is the exact reason why I left Jacksonville. Nothing will ever change here.

[tufsu1]

Thanks for leaving instead of staying and trying to make things better!

[mtraininjax]

Nothing will ever change here.

First BLACK mayor ever in Jacksonville? Um, yeah, that was big!