Evangelicals, rights group mobilize on Tampa council's transgender vote

The city council's decision two weeks ago to extend Tampa's anti-discrimination laws to include transgender individuals was a move long overdue, its supporters say.

To the leaders of evangelical Christian groups, the inclusion of "gender identity and expression" as a protected class under the city's human rights ordinance is an assault on their religious values that they fear will sanction sexually deviant behavior.

"This ordinance will give lawful protection to cross dressing males to patronize women's restrooms," the Florida Family Association said in a statement. "And men dressed as women or women who perceive themselves as men can also use men's restrooms."

Terry Kemple, president of the Community Issues Council, blasted the council's move in an e-mail to his membership, suggesting the protections would allow "sexual predators" to go into public restrooms designated for the opposite sex and force local business owners and landlords to accept cross-dressers, regardless of their religious beliefs.

City Attorney Chip Fletcher said the changes are not meant to protect the occasional cross dresser, but individuals who are undergoing sexual reassignment surgery.

"This is intended to address people who are dealing with gender identity," he said.

Still, leaders of both evangelical groups are mobilizing followers to pack council chambers on Thursday and voice their opposition to the proposed changes prior to a final vote.

"If the city council hears a loud voice from the church they'll think twice and we may actually defeat this proposal, " Kemple wrote. "If they don't hear from us be ready to lose a few more of the religious freedoms our country was established to protect."

A preliminary vote on the changes passed unanimously at a Nov. 5 council meeting, with little discussion from council members and nobody speaking out against the measure.

The proposed changes, if approved, will extend existing laws prohibiting discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on sexual orientation, sex, race and religion to include "gender identity or expression" as a protected class.

Tampa's Human Rights Board, which has been discussing the issue for the past year, requested the changes. Mayor Pam Iorio has pledged her support for the changes.

Zeke Fread, director of Pride Tampa Bay, said he doesn't expect the groups' opposition to change the outcome of the council's final vote. But he, too, is mobilizing supporters.

"We have a fight on our hands" if the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy group hopes to ensure that "gender identity and expression becomes a part of Tampa's human rights ordinance," he wrote in an e-mail to his membership.

At least 13 states across the country and 16 municipalities in Florida, as well as some Fortune 500 companies, have extended such protections to transsexuals, transvestites and any others with a gender identity that differs from their sex at birth.

President Barack Obama's administration is drafting proposed federal guidelines that would prohibit workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees.

Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, said transgender individuals can be fired, denied service in restaurants and stores, or even prevented from renting or buying property because Tampa lacks basic protections for gender identity or expression.

She praised the Iorio administration and council members for supporting the changes.

"It's long overdue," she said. "This is what big cities do to protect their citizens."

The council meets at 9 a.m. in old city hall on 315 E. Kennedy Blvd. in downtown.