Gainesville Florida Has Its Own Prop 8 Vote Coming Up Next Week

-by John Brushwood


The City of Gainesville Florida is having a local election on March 24th. Included on the ballot is Charter Amendment 1. If Charter Amendment 1 passes it will be legal in Gainesville to fire someone or deny them housing based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Charter Amendment 1 would ban the city of Gainesville from adopting or enforcing anti-discrimination policies not outlined by the Florida Civil Rights Act. The Florida Civil Rights Act does not include sexual orientation or gender identity. The city of Gainesville currently provides protections under it’s city ordinances for sexual orientation and gender identity, but if Charter Amendment 1 passes, these protections would be voided and the city would be prohibited from forbidding discrimination against gays, lesbians, and transsexuals.

The following is the exact wording of charter amendment 1 that will be on the ballot on march 24th.

Amendment to City Charter Prohibiting the City from Providing Certain Civil Rights

Shall the City Charter Be Amended to prohibit the adoption or enforcement of ordinances, regulations, rules, or policies that provide protected status, preferences, or discrimination claims based on classification, characteristics, or orientations not recognized by the Florida Civil Rights Act? The act recognizes, race, color, creed, religion, gender, national origin, age, handicap, marital and familial status. Additionally, this amendment voids existing ordinances concerning sexual orientation, gender identity, and other ordinances inconsistent with this amendment.

In order to defeat Charter Amendment 1 a political committee, Equality Is Gainesville’s Business, has been formed. Equality Is Gainesville’s Business works through the grassroots by canvassing, phone banking, radio and television commercials to get out the vote to defeat charter Amendment 1. Meet Joanne, a Gainesville firefighter:



You can help by donating the Equality is Gainesville’s Business through their donation page. Donations are made through paypal, but a paypal account is not required or necessary to donate. I have complete confidence that we will win. They have no field operation, just television ads and lots of paid for visibility. I just got hired to head up one of the two early vote shuttle locations on UF campus. If we hit our goals, there's no chance they can win. Thanks again for helping us with this.