Last night, the Fort Lauderdale City Commission took up the proposal by Commissioner Dean Trantalis to pass a resolution to back gay marriage for Florida.
When the hearing started, around 7 pm, the room was nearing capacity, and filled quickly with over 100 citizens.
Surprisingly, the crowd was almost entirely in favor of the proposal. Only a handful of anti- gay marriage proponents showed, and they proved to be their own worse enemy. They passed out the flyers below, full of over the top statements.
The flyers say Trantalis’s proposal ” goes against the moral teaching of the Bible”, and goes on to say that people that support the resolution therefore “endorse incest sex, polygamy, and group sex”. It goes on to say that “male and female sex organs naturally fit together”, says” the “same cannot be said for male-male or female-female”. The flyers ramble about pedophilia, race, and producing babies.
Here is a recap of the hearing from my notes
….. Bobby looks concerned ……. Roberts seems engaged…. speaker says he’s getting married with his partner on Labor Day – in Mexico City ….. another speaker says he got married last September, in NYC.…… Michael Albetta says passing the resolution would be a smart thing to do ….. reminds Commission he helped many of them get elected.…. anti resolution speaker says he doesn’t think he should check his religion at the door ( of City Hall) ...says it is immoral …says “we are made male and female …… female Rabbi says you can read the Bible many ways …. says you could “kiss your bacon cheeseburger goodbye” [if you read it literally] ….. says if you object to gay marriage she suggests you not marry anyone of the same sex ….. clinical psychologist says he prayed to God as a teen to make him straight ….. anti speaker says this would lead to brother and sister marrying, and that the proposal says God, Moses and Jesus are wrong …. gay chamber of commerce speaker talks of economic impact to Fort Lauderdale by gay tourists …..
…….. Public hearing closed ….. Comm. Roberts starts ….. is going to back the reso ….Comm. Dubose declines to make comments …..Comm. Rogers says he will vote against it ….says he has to lean on “the sanctity of marriage” ….. Comm. Trantalis makes his case for the reso …..Mayor Seiler finishes by reminding crowd that he “signed first domestic partnership” law in Wilton Manors, has been a supporter of civil unions …… but goes on to tell the crowd that he would not be backing the reso .…..
…… vote …. 3/2 in favor, Rogers and Seiler opposing …..
So what now ?