The
Miami Herald reports that yesterday a Committee of the Miami Dade County (Florida) Commission by a vote of 3-1 approved a proposed Ordinance (
full text) that would ban discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression in public accommodations, employment and housing. The Committee's 4-hour public hearing on the proposal was filled with testimony from religious conservatives opposing the proposal:
Raw emotion and invocations of biblical damnation over a proposed ban on discrimination against transgender people dominated Wednesday what was perhaps the fiercest debate Miami-Dade County Hall has seen this year.
Advocates of a more inclusive society, including transgender men and women who spoke of how difficult it can be to find public acceptance, were outnumbered by conservatives who, in a show of force, assailed the legislation as immoral and a threat to public safety. Two likened South Florida to Sodom and Gomorrah.
