Ordinance 296-Straight Talk

[JamesSmith]

The central issue behind ordinance 296 is one of valuing every human life, regardless of the specifics of gender or sexual preference.  The issue is not about creating a super privileged segment of society, as some opponents have declared.  Similar laws are in place not to make women more powerful than men in the workplace or minorities the dominant races on university campuses, but to simply make sure that both those groups are never devalued.

There are opponents of 296 who state that they are against discrimination, but then fail to acknowledge the worth of others.  That, by definition, is discrimination.  The associations made in their own arguments against 296 demonstrate this.  By equating someone in the LGBT community with pedophiles is explicitly devaluing their worth.  By using fear tactics, such as the threat of increased litigation and the departure from our city of those who oppose 296, for which there is no statistical evidence, the LGBT community is further devalued. 

Ordinance 296 is not about future home values or an increase in lawsuits or even about Jacksonville’s ability to lure large corporations or young professionals.  It is about affirming the value of each member of our community, whether we are able to identify with them or not.  It is singularly about declaring that every person in our community has worth and that devaluing anyone is prohibited.

I am saddened to hear so many opponents of 296 using Christianity and the Bible as their excuse to withhold equal value to members of the LGBT community.  Firstly, our constitution clearly defines the separation of church and state, so how this argument is permitted in public is baffling.  Secondly, these opponents have chosen to lift certain Biblical passages out of context, failing to understand the historic backgrounds in which they were written, while at the same time ignoring other passages regarding human value.  I would be happy to discuss differences in Biblical interpretation and how they relate to basic human rights, but these are discussions that should be taking place on front porches and in living rooms, not in city council meetings governed by elected officials.

Every human life has value.  That value must be protected.  Ordinance 296 will not be able to change hearts or open minds, but it will secure the worth of each member of our community.  Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions. This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dreamâ€"a dream yet unfulfilled.”

Now is the time for our city to move confidently forward in securing the worth of every citizen, without distinction.