Commissioner Kevin Beckner's voice rose Wednesday as he realized he would not win his battle to change county policy to ensure all gay and transgender county employees are protected from harassment. ...more

December 17, 2009

Commissioner Kevin Beckner's voice rose today as he realized he would not win his battle to change county policy to ensure all gay and transgender county employees are protected from harassment. ...more

December 16, 2009

County administrator Pat Bean survived her annual evaluation today with her job intact but at the end of what one commissioner called a "short rope" that could be jerked if she doesn't improve her performance. Commissioner Mark Sharpe received no support for a motion he made to fire Bean and fill her position by a coalition of her assistant county administrators until the job could be filled permanently. ...more

December 16, 2009

Brushing aside a chorus of opposition from evangelical groups, the city council today voted to expand anti-discrimination laws to include transgender individuals. ...more

November 19, 2009

The city council is expected to vote today on a proposal to expand Tampa's anti-discrimination laws to include transgender individuals. The proposed ordinance, if approved, would extend 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. ...more

November 5, 2009

I am a young American who, among other things, is both gay and Republican. Like 25 to 30 percent of gay and lesbian Americans, I have voted almost exclusively for Republican candidates for the last 10 years because I believe in limited government, individual rights, personal liberty, individual responsibility, a strong national defense, a free market economy, fiscal responsibility and lower taxes. ...more

October 26, 2009

The number of hate crimes in Florida dropped slightly in 2008. ...more

October 22, 2009

Fourteen years ago, the Hillsborough County Commission voted to strip gay rights protections out of the county's human rights ordinance. ...more

October 22, 2009

The House voted Thursday to make it a federal crime to assault people because of their sexual orientation, significantly expanding the hate crimes law enacted in the days after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968. ...more

October 8, 2009

Frank Martin Gill of North Miami is gay and a foster parent. Gill and his partner want to adopt half brothers they've parented since 2004, but Florida law prohibits it. So the couple and the boys, ages 4 and 8, remain in legal limbo, waiting for a court or the Legislature to make them one family legally. ...more

March 18, 2009