The human rights issue has bled out into the Facebook pages of two Atlantic Beach city commissioners:
Quote
Atlantic Beach commissioners snipe on Facebook
By Amanda Williamson Thu, Jun 11, 2015 @ 6:46 pm | updated Thu, Jun 11, 2015 @ 10:56 pm
Nothing said on social media remains private for long — a lesson Atlantic Beach Commissioner Jonathan Daugherty learned the hard way after sending a scathing remark to a fellow council member describing his reason for "unfriending" her on Facebook.
The message, sent to Maria Mark's private inbox, detailed Daugherty's dislike for a campaign strategy touting her success in passing the local Human Rights Ordinance. Mark formally announces her re-election bid on Sunday with a Campaign Launch Party in Donner Park, but unofficially, she has posted several updates on Facebook displaying Equality Florida's support for her re-election. When she received Daugherty's message late Tuesday night, Mark said she thought about responding. Instead, she shared it with her Facebook friends along with the note: "Comments?"
The post — and two others regarding the same subject — received a total of 33 comments, 37 likes and more than 11 shares. On the shares, there is no way to quantify the response.
Daugherty's private message read: "I just wanted to let you know I am going to defriend you on facebook during the election not because I don't like you as a person but because it makes me sick to my stomach and makes my blood boil every time I see a lgbt event or endorsement in my newsfeed. ...
I think you will find a increasingly large backlash to what you have done and you will lose by a very large margin. Remember even though they may write a check and pat you on the back most don't live here and they can't vote. The people that you have pissed off though can and will and that is a majority of the people I talk to. I will pray for your soul."
According to Daugherty, he meant to convey his anger that Equality Florida -- a St. Petersburg organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community -- used Mark and Atlantic Beach to further its agenda in Tallahassee. The organization lobbied for the city's passage of the HRO, and Daugherty voted in affirmation for the bill in order to be able to bring it back up at another meeting. His plan backfired when the commission declined the motion to reconsider the ordinance.
"Maria Mark is being supported by this outside organization," Daugherty said. "I tried to be as kind as possible, but it makes me angry, makes my blood boil when I see PACs controlling politicians."
Despite his "unfriend," Daugherty does not plan to support Mark or her opponent, John Stinson, in the upcoming election. Either way, he said, one of them will be sitting across from him on the dais and he doesn't want any ill-will. In fact, he said the message was supposed to be taken as advice.
"We're colleagues," he added. "This issue has divided our city, and I think it is going to hurt her. People outside the community don't vote."
...
"The hardest part with this now is we have to sit across from each other," Mark said. "It is insulting because he is saying he is on a higher pedestal, and I am this slimy creature that needs to be saved. ... As they say on the playground, he started it."
However, as Wednesday came to a close, Mark asked her friends on Facebook to put the issue behind them, "to let it be and move on."
http://jacksonville.com/news/2015-06-11/story/atlantic-beach-commissioners-snipe-facebook