Three years of pent-up emotion nearly turned a community conversation into community chaos.
Both sides of the local Human Rights Ordinance issue were asked to show civility Tuesday during Mayor Lenny Curry’s first community conversation on discrimination.
The standing-room-only crowd of close to 400 — 100 or so without seats — was asked to listen openly to all ideas, experiences and perspectives.
A panel featured six people who spoke on topics of discrimination relating to children and families.
Enthusiastic applause followed many of comments coming from pro-expansion panelists. Many of those same comments garnered shaking heads from opponents.
Still, mostly everyone kept their cool during the 90-minute meeting until near the end. Until it was announced the public question-and-answer portion of the forum would conclude at speaker No. 9 because of time constraints.
“This is a sham,” said a standing Marshall Wood, founder of religious-based Crossover Jacksonville.
His dark blue, block-lettered “Protect Civil Liberties” tag showed what side he was on. Blue was for the opponents. The orange, sunshine-laden Jacksonville Coalition for Equality stickers on supporters far outnumbered them in the room.
“This is a sham,” Wood repeated.
All nine of the public speakers had been HRO supporters. Wood wanted to speak and have the opposing viewpoints heard. He didn’t sit down, interjecting when the speaker at the microphone began. He wasn’t giving up.
Moderator Michael Boylan tried to keep the peace and said he’d give Wood a chance to speak before the forum ended. It was a suggestion that caused tensions to nearly boil over.
“No!” several people shouted.
“Sit down!” said another.
“I want a chance to speak, too,” a man from the crowd yelled.
Hearing from everyone who wanted to speak would have taken hours. Many within the crowd had filled out speaker cards. They were taken in the order they came — and time was up.
Joey Vaughn, an attorney and panelist who advised against expanding discrimination laws, asked Wood to respect the rules and sit back down in his seat.
Eventually, Wood did. The last few minutes went smoothly.
Wood afterward said he attended because he thought everyone would have the chance to speak. He said he would have spoken about the HRO attacking the “triad of a successful culture” — that being family, faith and free enterprise.
Instead, he said the meeting ended up a “travesty of justice” because not all sides were heard. Wood said instead of attending the two December meetings, he plans to rally with area religious leaders and host parallel meetings on the same topics so those against expansion could be heard.
Michele Fleming, an HRO opponent, likewise was disappointed the event ended up having only pro-HRO speakers.
“That is not my definition of a conversation,” she said. “That is my definition of a dissertation.”
Curry spokeswoman Marsha Oliver said the procedures and format would be reviewed for the December meetings to make improvements.
Curry had a front-row view of the panel and brief question-and-answer session, each of which took about 30 minutes.
At one point, the questions during the public portion steered from the panel to Curry himself.
Paul Cordova brought up Curry’s campaign-trail assertion that the people of Jacksonville didn’t discriminate. Cordova wanted Curry to ask attendees who had been discriminated against to raise their hands. Curry didn’t do it, but told Cordova to ask. About one-third of attendees raised their hands.
The focus of Tuesday’s forum was “Supporting the Needs and Well-Being of Families.”
Panelists were Cheryl Grymes of the Duval County School Board; Jeff Goldhagen, a pediatrics professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine; Roger Gannam, of the Liberty Counsel; Cindy Watson of JASMYN; Garry Bevel, of the Jacksonville System of Care Initiative; and Vaughn.
Data continues to show increased depression and suicide rates among youth in the LGBT community and “should haunt us all,” Goldhagen said. Passing an HRO wouldn’t solve every problem, he said, but would offer vital protections and a sense of identification for those in need.
Gannam and Vaughn frequently mentioned the unintended consequences of passing an HRO and how expanding the law wouldn’t solve the problems the LGBT community faced.
As for the other panelists, Watson and Bevel also spoke in favor of expanding the city’s discrimination policy.
Grymes talked about the policies public schools have instituted to increase anti-harassment and bullying efforts while also supporting programs for LGBT students.
The next forum will be Dec. 3 and focus on religious freedoms, thoughts and beliefs. The last will be Dec. 15 and focus on business.
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