At a heated Sept. 21 county commission meeting, Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty stood firmly in the way of progress toward a Human Rights Ordinance. But after a flurry of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, it appears that the ordinance is moving forward.
Some background: Orange County has no comprehensive HRO prohibiting discrimination. In 2004, and after consistent pressuring from local LGBT activists, Crotty backed protections in housing and county employment that include sexual orientation. Early this year, Commissioner Linda Stewart began pushing for a sweeping HRO that expands protections to important areas like employment and public accommodations. Citing cost concerns, Crotty rebuffed Stewart’s requests to schedule a workshop. Commissioner Bill Segal, who is in a heated race to replace the term-limited Crotty as mayor, asked Crotty on Sept. 13 to schedule a commissioner’s report “as soon as possible” to consider an HRO and domestic partner benefits.
It was this necessary procedural maneuvering that fueled debate at the Sept. 21 commission meeting. During opening comments, LGBT activists Drew Weinbrenner, Mary Meeks and Randy Stephens described the need for an HRO. Meeks quoted supportive letters from Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Rollins College president Lewis Duncan, and even Crotty himself.
“In your own memo you wrote, ‘I’ve continued to seek ways to show that our county can demonstrate its opposition to discrimination in its many forms while doing so in a cost effective manner,’” Meeks told a reddening Crotty. “You’ve already said it’s the right thing to do, so let’s talk about costs.”
Segal moved to schedule a workshop, with Stewart seconding. Crotty stated that only the mayor can place items on the commission agenda, and the focus quickly pivoted from civil rights to mayoral authority.
In a heated discussion, Stewart and County Attorney Tom Drage—a Crotty appointee—debated whether commissioners could schedule a workshop without the mayor’s support. Drage argued that only a super-majority of five could override the mayor. Stewart said there was no such requirement.
Crotty made several attempts to move on to the next item on the agenda before a vote was called on the unresolved procedural question. Commissioners Lui Damiani and Fred Brummer sided with Crotty, thus preventing further discussion. Commissioners Scott Boyd and Tiffany Moore Russell voted with Segal and Stewart.
After the meeting, Crotty told the Orlando Sentinel that he had a deal with LGBT activists—the Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance group—that he would back housing protections if they agreed not to seek more changes.
“I’ve done what I agreed to do,” said a still stinging Crotty.
But Drage let slip to the Sentinel that Segal or Stewart could request a commissioner’s report on the same issue, and that would allow a simple majority to vote on whether to hold a workshop. Cornered, Crotty issued a memo the following day acknowledging that Segal had already requested a commissioner’s report in his Sept. 13 memo.
“Therefore, I will schedule Commissioner Segal to make his report at a future [commission] meeting,” Crotty wrote. “Although under the Charter I am not required to schedule workshops at the direction of [commissioners], if at that time a simple majority… votes to hold such a workshop, I agree to schedule one in coming weeks.”
Crotty also agreed to address the procedural issues raised by Stewart.
By late afternoon, both Segal and Stewart had sent memos to Crotty asking that a commissioner’s report be scheduled for Oct. 5. And before the weekend, it had been added to the Oct. 5 agenda.
Stephens, who is interim director of The GLBCC Center, said he and other speakers and activists were initially outraged by Crotty’s maneuverings. He described evening meetings in which legal action, e-blasts and a protest were considered.
But after Crotty issued his memo they were cautiously optimistic, and gratified that their preparation has led to a potentially positive result.
“We’re very excited about this turn of events,” said Stephens, who ribbed Crotty during his turn at the podium. “I told him it’s ironic that his political future will likely be in either Tallahassee or Washington, D.C.—both places with HROs.”
Meeks, however, called the commission meeting “an ugly spectacle” and insists that Crotty should be held accountable.
“Commissioner Segal requested a commissioner’s report in his memo, and it came up again during the commission meeting,” she said. “So for them to say that it’s something that could be done in the future is outrageous.”
Meeks and other activists have called for the LGBT community to flood commissioners with emails supporting an HRO, and to attend the Oct. 5 meeting wearing red.
“I’m pleased that the mayor did this,” Segal told Watermark. “I think Rich is at heart a decent guy. This is a great step forward.”
Noting that an HRO is a “comprehensive document” and that domestic partner benefits will be part of his report, Segal said he hopes to work with Stewart to adequately frame the discussion for fellow commissioners.
“There needs to be some specificity,” he said. “There’s work to be done.”
Six Florida counties have passed HRO’s that include sexual orientation: Leon (Tallahassee), Pinellas, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe. For Orange to join them, three things now stand in the way: Crotty’s ambivalence, his scheduling authority, and time.
Stewart and Segal likely have the required simple majority to pass an HRO. But two new commissioners—and a new mayor—will be seated in January. Segal’s competition, former Commissioner Teresa Jacobs, has expressed a desire to workshop an HRO but has reserved approval based on cost considerations. The Sentinel, which has endorsed Jacobs, expressed support for an HRO but called the recent push “politically motivated” and urged that it be tabled until after the election.
Stewart also ran for county mayor, but was narrowly eliminated in the primary. Passage of an HRO would be a defining achievement for her two terms in office.
“It’s clearly the right thing to do,” she said at an LGBT candidate’s forum. “Why not now?”
After roadblock, Orange County HRO moving forward
