Sides were being courted outside Edward Waters College’s gymnasium Thursday evening.
Raymond Johnson stood near the entrance passing out blue signs. On them was the simply stated “No to HRO.” The back of his shirt proclaimed it a little louder: “Jacksonville says No! No! No! to HRO.”
The consultant and founder of Biblical Concept Ministries was offering passersby the opportunity for a shirt like his if they wanted one.
Not 20 feet away from him were a few mostly young men and women with just the opposite on their minds. In their hands were clipboards.
“Are you here to support equality?” they asked in chipper tones.
The inquiry was met with silence by an older couple who made their way to the forming line, eager attendees waiting to pass through tightened security.
It wasn’t a basketball game or any sporting event in the college’s gym.
Instead, the more than 1,000 people who turned out were there to listen and talk about expanding the city’s human rights ordinance. Two weeks after a forum focused on family and youth relating to the subject, Thursday evening’s theme revolved around religion.
The format was the same — a panel discussion followed by an audience question-and-answer session — but the process was tweaked after criticism from the first forum.
Only nine people were able to speak last time because of time constraints. And they all spoke in favor of expanding the human rights ordinance, leading to criticism from opponents who were significantly outnumbered.
On Thursday, those odds changed. The sides were more evenly split as evidenced by the corresponding orange and blue stickers that tagged allegiances.
Applause levels also served as a gauge. At times, audience members wildly cheered when they heard something they liked. The rest looked on disapprovingly.
However, there were times when both sides reacted.
Like when pastor Ronnie Edwards of Blessed Hope Missionary Baptist responded to a question comparing the Civil Rights movement to the issues today’s LGBT community faces.
Being black was how God made him, Edwards said. Homosexuality, the panelist said, was a choice.
“Amen!” exclaimed many of the blue-sticker clad attendees, some holding on up their signs.
“Are you kidding me?” yelled a man wearing an orange sticker.
Disbelief and approval, cheers and jeers toward the pastor.
Roger Gannum, a second-time panelist with the Liberty Counsel, chimed in to say the rights movement and HRO expansion weren’t “in the same universe” of comparison. He again spoke against expansion because of the impact he said it would have on churches to freely practice.
On the other side was Senior Rabbi Joshua Lief of Congregation Ahaveth Chesed, who said an expanded law to prevent discriminations in public accommodations could be done without infringing on church rights. It would be up to how the law was written.
The overall issue, Lief said, isn’t whether being gay is right or wrong. Instead, it should be about protecting the freedoms of everyone.
Pastor Torin Dailey of First Baptist Church of Oakland agreed with Lief on finding a way for any legislation to benefit all people — it’d be a step to embrace everyone, even though he might not endorse their lifestyle.
The conversations were mostly civil but strayed at times because of the emotional issue of faith and its foundational role in people’s lives, said Joey Vaughn. He was a panelist during the first event, but Thursday night was a crowd member wearing a blue sticker opposing expansion.
Hugh Greene, president and CEO of Baptist Health, said he thought the conversation strayed from the public accommodations aspect of the law to personal beliefs. He is in support of a more inclusive human rights ordinance and wore an orange sticker from the Jacksonville Coalition for Equality.
Greene said he hoped the message was refocused during the third meeting relating to the issue and business Dec. 15 at Jacksonville University.
It’s the last scheduled community conversation before any potential decision is made on the emotional issue.
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