Oh how things have changed!
I used to be a Board member of the Metropolitan Business Association (MBA), Central Florida's Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. When my term ended a few years ago, I got involved with other groups and advocacy projects, and did not stay as engaged with the activities of the MBA. So imagine my surprise when I attended a recent MBA social meeting at Hamburger Marys, and hardly knew anyone there! The sea of fresh, smiling faces basking in the gay sunlight made me think of those activist warriors who had paved the way for these happy and very out gay people to gather and network openly in Downtown Orlando.
Orlando was recently designated as America's 4th gayest city, in part because of several gay-friendly local ordinances that have been passed recently by Orlando and Orange County. But when the MBA was founded in 1992 it was too dangerous for the group to openly proclaim that it was a â┚¬Å”gayâ┚¬Â group. In the beginning, 90% of the membership wanted to remain confidential, which prevented the members from having open meetings or even sharing a membership list. Today, 99% of the membership is out, listing their names in the membership guide on the website, and openly trading drinks and business cards every month in various mainstream business establishments. Our community has come so far in the last 20 years because of the people who stood up and fought for us and made our lives better.
People like Debbie Simmons, who was the MBA's President for its first 15 years. And people like Dorothy Kuhlman, Mary Brooks, Bruce Ground, Sandy Fink, Tom Dyer, Wayne Gebhardt, and other MBA leaders from those early days. These folks had a vision for our community, and made huge personal sacrifices to make that vision a reality. They formed the MBA to encourage fellowship and support among businesses, professionals, individuals, and charitable pursuits in the LGBT and allied communities, oppose prejudice against the LGBT community, and provide positive role models. They laid the groundwork to bring our community together as a force to achieve equality and dignity of life for all LGBT citizens.
Our community today is indeed a force to be reckoned with, and we have Debbie Simmons and company to thank for it.
Debbie was a fierce, and often solitary, public advocate. She, and her business Shelbie Press, were repeatedly targeted with verbal epithets and threats, and vandalism. But she always stood strong and kept on fighting. I asked her about it recently and she said, â┚¬Å”The path was hard, even grueling many times, but the rewards have been invaluable to so many people.â┚¬Â Debbie remembers the biggest battle of all, in 2001, when the homophobic forces tried to prevent the City of Orlando from amending Chapter 57, the City's non-discrimination policy, to include sexual orientation. It was a nasty fight. Then-Mayor of Orlando, Glenda Hood, stood with the homophobes and tried to protect their right to discriminate. The Orlando Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Committee, lead by Debbie and OADO founder Michael Slaymaker, organized the LGBT community and its allies to support the City's effort. It was truly an epic battle, and our community prevailed by a 4-3 vote of the City Commission, to sustained applause and a standing ovation, even as Mayor Glenda banged her gavel and told us to be quiet.
I was inspired then by Debbie Simmons to get involved and help make a difference, and I poked my toe in the waters and contributed my three-minute speech. Later, it was Debbie who recruited me onto the Board of the MBA and challenged me to lead the MBA's advocacy efforts. She even cajoled me into assuming the responsibility of revamping and elevating the status of the Come Out With Pride Rally in 2008, when Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer took the stage with an unprecedented slate of influential gay-friendly dignitaries. With the echoes of Glenda Hood's gavel still banging in our ears, it was a moment of overwhelming pride and accomplishment when our new Mayor of Orlando stood on the stage at Lake Eola and loudly proclaimed, â┚¬Å”I am with you!â┚¬ÂÂ
Debbie officially â┚¬Å”retiredâ┚¬Â from the MBA in 2008, but not before she further inspired me to become a member of OADO, to help continue to build on the legacy of those early warriors. In just the past year, OADO has been successful in working with Orange County to implement an LGBT inclusive Human Rights Ordinance and procurement policy, and domestic partner benefits, and is currently working with both the City of Orlando and Orange County to implement a domestic partner registry. None of this would have been possible without the early efforts of those amazing activist warriors. I am personally enormously grateful to Debbie Simmons, and to those that were by her side in those early days, for fighting those battles for us, and making our world a much better place.
We have come a long way. Let's raise our glasses and give a toast to those brave activist warriors who paved the way. Cheers!
