Lynn and Pat Mulder spoke at a press conference supporting the Safe Schools bill. Their son, Ryan Skipper, was killed last year in Polk County. (Photo by Robert Collier)
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By JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ
Thursday, May 08, 2008
The successful passage in the State Legislature of a bill to protect students from schoolyard bullying and harassment marks how much progress gay rights advocates have made in the conservative state legislature.
The State Senate unanimously passed its version of the bill on April 30, twelve days after the House approved its bill with a vote of 112-0.
The Republican-sponsored bill went forward without including specific categories that defined bullying based on sexual orientation or the expression gender identity.
The bill’s performance was seen as a success among gay rights organizations as a watermark moment.
“It shows we have completely changed the conversation about protecting GLBT students,” said Stratton Pollitzer, deputy director of Equality Florida. “It’s an enormous seismic shift.”
Gay rights advocates, led by Equality Florida, lobbied state lawmakers to amend the legislation to include the categories. Although the finalized version of the bill does not include specific language to protect GLBT students, Pollitzer said elected officials made verbal assurances during discussion on the floor that could be used in court if school districts don’t comply in protecting all types of bullying, including against GLBT students.
The bill has yet to reach Gov. Charlie Crist, but he is expected to sign it.
“This really marks the beginning of a new era in Tallahassee,” Pollitzer said. “The issues we care about will be debated and move forward. We have toiled in a deeply conservative environment and now the attitude is changing.”
The other bill that demonstrated a new gay traction in the state Capitol was the Civil Rights bill sponsored by Sen. Ted Deutch (D. Delray Beach). The Deutch bill proposed amending the Florida Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation as an impermissible grounds for discrimination in employment and housing.
The bill won a successful vote in one Republican-dominated Senate committee before dying. More significantly, lobbyists for the bill won support from a leading Republican, Sen. Jeff Atwater (R. North Palm Beach). If Atwater wins his election, he is slated to replace Sen. Ken Pruitt as Senate President.
For Rand Hoch, president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, winning Atwater’s support and gaining at least four positive votes from Republican senators was a historic feat in Florida gay politics.
The bill set a rift between Hoch and Equality Florida, which called for legislation that specified protections for transgender men and women. The transgender-inclusive House bill, sponsored by Rep. Kelly Skidmore (D. Boca Raton), did not get a hearing, although it picked up 31 House sponsors.
Neither the Deutch nor Skidmore bills went far enough for a vote on the Senate or House floors; but Hoch said the momentum, though slow, is significant.
“I’m optimistic we’re on the right road,” Hoch said.
The forward movement is contrasted with other gay bills including a bill to establish domestic partnership benefits for state employees and a bill to legalize gay marriage which failed to be heard by legislators.
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