Gainesville Citizens Fight Bathroom Law
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Published: August 6, 2008 The Bulletin The citizens of Gainesville, Fla., are taking a fight to their City Council over an ordinance enacted earlier this year, granting men who perceive themselves as women the right to use women's bathrooms. Citizens for Good Public Policy, a coalition of citizens and businesses in Gainesville, was formed for the purpose of enacting a Charter Amendment that would prevent the addition of special categories to the city's civil rights ordinance. The group gathered 8,800 signatures, several thousand more than the 5,581 needed to place the Charter Amendment proposal on the March 2009 ballot. If passed by the voters, the Charter Amendment will invalidate the City Council's recently enacted "gender identity" category, which most citizens agree creates awkward and potentially harmful situations. The Charter Amendment would provide uniformity with established state and federal discrimination laws and eliminate the undue burden that special categories place on the activities and financial resources of citizens, businesses and taxpayers in Gainesville, Fla. "The concept of 'gender identity' was fashioned by radical homosexual groups and advocates to protect the bizarre sexual behavior of a few people," said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center. The Center is acting as the legal counsel for Citizens for Good Public Policy. "In practical effect, these types of ordinances end up being used to intimidate and prosecute Christians and anyone else who raises objections to this form of deviant behavior," he said. "The high number of petitions signed by the citizens of Gainesville serves as an indicator of the power held by citizens over elected officials who choose to push a far-left national agenda," said Cain Davis, the head of "Citizens For Good Public Policy. Community leaders also plan to run a slate of candidates during this election to have the city council reflect their values more than the current ones do. "The 'Citizens for Good Public Policy' have lead an outstanding effort and have shown that extremists with special rights agendas can be stopped, even in a liberal university town," said Dennis Baxley, executive director of the Christian Coalition of Florida. "Their successful petition drive demonstrates that government still belongs to the people who want liberty and justice for all, not special rights for special groups." The supervisor of elections for Gainesville has until Sept. 14 to certify the signatures. |