Each Pride season I ask myself, “Why am I marching?”
This year’s motivation is from an experience that fired up the old passion-the same passion that led me to join the group that started St. Pete Pride 11 years ago.
St. Pete Pride isn’t just a big popular gay party. It is a highly respected event for the entire community. Straight allies and their families regularly join us in throngs. The economic impact of Pinellas County’s single largest one day event is in the range of almost 11 million dollars and demonstrates just how important and significant the LGBT community has become to St. Petersburg.
And for the most part, St. Petersburg loves us. That’s why the idea of the “gay pride ban” in neighboring Hillsborough County and the nonsense it took to repeal it baffles me.
But I tend to forget that bigotry, hatred and prejudice still exist right here in Tampa Bay.
When my editor asked me to cover the recent Hillsborough commission meeting where the eight-year-old ordinance was up for repeal, I had no idea of what kind of impact it would have on me.
I’m pretty accepting of just about any kind of loving spiritual message about God or our place in the universe. What I am not accepting of, however, is when people try and use the Bible or their faith in God as an excuse to justify discrimination.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I heard. Person after person stepped up to the podium to tell us how God feels about homosexuals. One person even went so far as to say that if the commission voted to repeal the ban that Tampa would “lose God’s favor.”
The audience laughed at him.
Others implied that LGBT people sought special rights and that being LGBT was a “lifestyle choice.”The level of offense I felt was amazing. Exactly how many times do we have to let people know it’s not a choice?
But this nonsense didn’t stop when the public session ended. Far from it. The conversation that followed among the commissioners sounded like a conversation about obscenity laws in 1963. I was particularly offended at the implication that gay pride events are somehow obscene. Muddy amendments designed to appeal to certain commissioners’ bases were bandied about for almost an hour. And there was conversation about St. Pete Pride.
St. Pete Pride was presented as something that could never happen in Tampa. Apparently we beach people in Pinellas have the audacity to say that LGBT people have merit and worth. There was even the implication that somehow our own celebration was in some way obscene.
Commissioner Kevin Beckner wasn’t having anything to do with this banter. He stood his ground and insisted that it was a simple matter in front of the commission-either it believed government should be in the business of discriminating against one category of people or it should not. It was his leadership and unwavering support of repeal that lead to the unanimous vote that eventually came.
Equality Florida executive director Nadine Smith called Kevin Beckner a hero. I concur.
I personally think Commissioner Les Miller should be nominated for civil rights leader of the year. Miller, an African-American, told the audience he had faced discrimination “eyeball to eyeball” in 1951while wearing the uniform of our nation. He also told us that he is a deacon of a Southern Baptist congregation.
He said he was tired of people using the Bible to justify discrimination and hatred. He reminded the chamber that the KKK had used the Bible to justify their particular brand of hate.
“Discrimination is discrimination. Prejudice is prejudice. Hatred is hatred. It’s always painful and it’s always wrong and it’s why I’m voting for repeal.” He got a well-deserved standing ovation.
Commissioner Mark Sharp is another candidate for man of the year in my book. Admitting you are wrong isn’t something any of us like to do. It took a very big person indeed to admit it publicly and then to take the appropriate steps to make it right. He spoke lovingly about that lesson he was teaching to his son. Sounds to me like the kid has a pretty good dad.
When this whole three hour civil rights extravaganza was over and the vote had been taken, I asked Nadine Smith if she had any words specifically for the gay community following this vote.
Her words to me were, “The voice of moral authority has come down clearly on the side of equality and justice today.”
We have the moral authority on our side. As I have seen in that commission chamber, we still have battles to fight on our way to full equality, but clearly the tide has turned in our favor.
The hatred and bigotry disguised as religious values is no longer acceptable. We haven’t yet achieved our full place in the light of acceptance, but we are progressing. I’m taking my pain from those awful comments and transforming it into a renewed vigor to pursue the values I know are right.
So when I pick up the rainbow flag at St. Pete Pride and join with 100,000 of my friends, I will be marching this year with invigorated moral authority.
Let’s celebrate our victories and rededicate ourselves to using that authority to uphold and expand those values we know are our rights as human beings.
