In December, the Hillsborough County Commission silently appointed Terry Kemple to the county's Human Rights Board. The appointment received little fanfare until Equality Florida learned about it and shared Kemple's anti-gay legacy with supporters and the media.
Kemple, a religious conservative political activist who attempted to block Gay-Straight Alliances in area schools and tried to organize a boycott of Pepsico because of its domestic partnership benefits, is not a good fit for a position in charge of equal rights, Equality Florida argues.
â┚¬Å”Kemple stands in direct opposition to everything this board is supposed to represent,â┚¬Â Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith said in a prepared statement. â┚¬Å”He has consistently opposed equal protection under the law for gay people and has advocated against the freedoms of those who don't share his particular religious views.â┚¬ÂÂ
In an interview with the Tampa Tribune, Kemple disputed Smith, saying it was a matter of â┚¬Å”world view.â┚¬ÂÂ
â┚¬Å”Mine is distinctly different from Nadine Smith's world view,â┚¬Â he said. â┚¬Å”I'm not opposed to equal rights for homosexuals. I am opposed to special rights for anyoneâ┚¬â€Âespecially based on their choice of sexual partners.â┚¬ÂÂ
Kemple, who lost a bid for the Hillsborough County School Board in November, had the approval of commissioners Victor Crist, Ken Hagan, Al Higginbotham, Sandy Murman and Mark Sharpe. Commissioners Les Miller and Kevin Beckner voted against the appointment.
Equality Florida has launched a campaign to remove Kemple from the post and has asked members and supporters to write the commission asking for his removal. At press time, the organization said nearly 700 people had sent letters to the county.
