• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Body
  • Daily Resist
  • POLITICS
  • Travel
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Film
  • TV
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Men
  • Marriage Equality
  • Space
  • Trans Rights
  • Books
  • Science
  • Gay Iconography
  • TowleREAD

Osceola County, Florida Passes Non-Discrimination Ordinance

August 18, 2015 by Sean Mandell Leave a Comment

osceola

The County Commission in Osceola County, Florida voted unanimously Monday night to pass a human rights ordinance that makes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression illegal. Specifically, the ordinance will offer anti-discrimination protections in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations.

Under the ordinance, religious groups will “not have to hire or allow membership outside their own sect” as The Orlando Sentinel reports. They will, however, not be able to discriminate against LGBT people. That upset some religious leaders on hand at the commission meeting:

“I will not provide Viagra or fertility assistance or adoption assistance” to gay couples, physician John Littell said, comparing homosexuality to abortion as part of the “crisis of love and crisis of conscience” in the community.

Several pastors, including several Latino pastors who needed translation from Spanish, argued in opposition.

“What we’re asking you to do is not trample on the rights of the religious community,” said the Rev. Jim Book, pastor of First Christian Church of Kissimmee.

County Attorney Andrew Mai told speakers that hiring and firing based on sexual orientation would not be allowed.

“If you fire [someone] based solely on sexual preference and not on religious views?” Mai said. “Then you would be in trouble.”

The commission’s lone Republican Fred Hawkins spoke passionately against critics of the ordinance:

“Someone said to me, ‘We’ll continue to discriminate until they change their ways,'” Hawkins recalled. “You ain’t going to change their ways by discriminating against them, I can tell you that.”

“This is not ‘religious discrimination’; this is not endorsing someone’s lifestyle,” Hawkins said of the ordinance. “I don’t want to see discrimination against anybody. Discrimination is ugly. … I’m a Christian; I believe in the Bible, but I will always uphold the law, and you cannot discriminate against anybody.”

Fellow commissioner Cheryl Grieb, spoke of the discrimination she has encountered in her lifetime, saying, “[M]y partner — of this Saturday 23 years — did work in a law firm and was told that if anyone there was gay, they would be fired. She did have to live in the shadows.”

Osceola County is the 11th county in Florida to ban discrimination against LGBT people.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: discrimination, florida, gay rights, News, Transgender

Recent Posts

  • Gilligan’s Island, Elton John, ‘The Batman’, Secret Service, Ken Jennings, Ireland, Kylie and Dua Lipa: HOT LINKS

    Gilligan’s Island, Elton John, ‘The Batman’, Secret Service, Ken Jennings, Ireland, Kylie and Dua Lipa: HOT LINKS

    12 hours ago
  • ‘Bridgerton’ Star Jonathan Bailey on Being Gay in Hollywood: ‘Out Actors are Now Being Poached’

    ‘Bridgerton’ Star Jonathan Bailey on Being Gay in Hollywood: ‘Out Actors are Now Being Poached’

    15 hours ago
  • Jeffrey Sanker Goes Ahead with Puerto Vallarta Gay Circuit Party, Undeterred by COVID Surge

    Jeffrey Sanker Goes Ahead with Puerto Vallarta Gay Circuit Party, Undeterred by COVID Surge

    16 hours ago
  • Chairman of NYC Republican Club Hospitalized with COVID After Conga Line Christmas Party

    Chairman of NYC Republican Club Hospitalized with COVID After Conga Line Christmas Party

    17 hours ago
Previous Post: « New Music: Yo La Tengo, Pavement, Georgia, Sweet Baboo, Sleevenotes
Next Post: Zachary Quinto on PrEP Controversy: ‘Slut Shaming…is the Last Thing I Would Ever Do’ »

Primary Sidebar

  • Gilligan’s Island, Elton John, ‘The Batman’, Secret Service, Ken Jennings, Ireland, Kylie and Dua Lipa: HOT LINKS

  • ‘Bridgerton’ Star Jonathan Bailey on Being Gay in Hollywood: ‘Out Actors are Now Being Poached’

  • Jeffrey Sanker Goes Ahead with Puerto Vallarta Gay Circuit Party, Undeterred by COVID Surge

Recent Posts

  • Gilligan’s Island, Elton John, ‘The Batman’, Secret Service, Ken Jennings, Ireland, Kylie and Dua Lipa: HOT LINKS

    Gilligan’s Island, Elton John, ‘The Batman’, Secret Service, Ken Jennings, Ireland, Kylie and Dua Lipa: HOT LINKS

    12 hours ago
  • ‘Bridgerton’ Star Jonathan Bailey on Being Gay in Hollywood: ‘Out Actors are Now Being Poached’

    ‘Bridgerton’ Star Jonathan Bailey on Being Gay in Hollywood: ‘Out Actors are Now Being Poached’

    15 hours ago
  • Jeffrey Sanker Goes Ahead with Puerto Vallarta Gay Circuit Party, Undeterred by COVID Surge

    Jeffrey Sanker Goes Ahead with Puerto Vallarta Gay Circuit Party, Undeterred by COVID Surge

    16 hours ago
  • Chairman of NYC Republican Club Hospitalized with COVID After Conga Line Christmas Party

    Chairman of NYC Republican Club Hospitalized with COVID After Conga Line Christmas Party

    17 hours ago
  • FBI Investigating After Wisconsin Health Worker ‘Intentionally’ Ruins 500 Doses of COVID Vaccine

    FBI Investigating After Wisconsin Health Worker ‘Intentionally’ Ruins 500 Doses of COVID Vaccine

    17 hours ago
  • Trump Ditching NYE at Mar-a-Lago, Returning to DC Angry at Pence and Obsessed with January 6 Plan to Overturn Election

    Trump Ditching NYE at Mar-a-Lago, Returning to DC Angry at Pence and Obsessed with January 6 Plan to Overturn Election

    18 hours ago
  • Pro Rugby Player Devin Ibañez Comes Out as Gay

    Pro Rugby Player Devin Ibañez Comes Out as Gay

    1 day ago
  • James Charles, Dancing Robot, Louie Gohmert, Josh Hawley, La Scala, Hilaria Baldwin, Blackwater Pardons: HOT LINKS

    James Charles, Dancing Robot, Louie Gohmert, Josh Hawley, La Scala, Hilaria Baldwin, Blackwater Pardons: HOT LINKS

    1 day ago
  • Trump DOJ Sparks Outrage, Clearing Cleveland Cop Who Killed 12-Year-Old Tamir Rice

    Trump DOJ Sparks Outrage, Clearing Cleveland Cop Who Killed 12-Year-Old Tamir Rice

    2 days ago
  • Maskless COVIDiot Mob Assails L.A. Supermarket Over Restrictions: ‘We’re Not Here Coughing Everything, Smearing Everything!’ — WATCH

    Maskless COVIDiot Mob Assails L.A. Supermarket Over Restrictions: ‘We’re Not Here Coughing Everything, Smearing Everything!’ — WATCH

    2 days ago

Most Commented

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Footer

Copyright © 2021 · Log in