EXCLUSIVE: Nadine Smith Comments and Largo, Florida: The Story Behind Bigotry and Hatred
Editorial:
Please note that the views presented below are those of Chip Arndt and do not necessarily represent the views of the membership of Freedom Democrats.
People are encouraged to contribute their thoughts, on this topic and others, in the form of opinion pieces. Please send these to info@freedomdems.org for review.
By Chip Arndt
President, Freedom Democrats
www.FreedomDems.org
March 13, 2007
Largo is a central Florida town of roughly 76,000 people, close to the Gulf of Mexico, about 22 miles west of Tampa. Though it has a mayor, it was the first city in Florida and second in the nation to be run by an appointed City Manager reporting to a group of elected city commissioners.
Each year, for the last 14 years, they have renewed the contract of Steve Stanton for that job. Known to be forceful and energetic, his responsibilities include overseeing the city's $130 million dollar yearly budget and 1200 employees. Last September, his outstanding performance resulted in an $11,000 pay increase. It appears he will not be getting another raise this September because, by then, he will apparently no longer be Largo’s top official.
Subject to more tornadoes than the average Florida town, none struck Largo more forcefully than the revelation by the "St. Petersburg Times" that one of their reporters had ambushed Stanton with the rumor that he was transgender which he confirmed. Stanton’s wife was one of the few people who already knew, and he had planned to announce it in May or June when his 13-year old son, who did not yet know, would be out of town, away from the potentially explosive public reaction. He asked that they not print the story until he had time to tell his son, but the "Times" violated their agreement to give him 48 hours by posting it online the next day and Stanton immediately found himself in the eye of a storm that soon swept in attention from people and media around the world.
He e-mailed every city employee with a heartfelt message informing them of what the rest of Largo would soon learn, adding:
"As everyone knows, I have never been a traditional city manager and have learned to confront my fears. Last week, I was training with the Fire Department's Technical Rescue Team and rappelled down a very small rope 300 feet to the ground. As I walked away, a spectator told me I was crazy to do such a thing, but admitted I showed a lot of courage. However, I tried to explain that this exercise did not depend on courage, but an absolute trust in the team that supported me. It is with this same sense of trust in the community and my Largo family that I now begin a new journey in my life."
Largo Chief of Police, Lester Aradi, sent his own e-mail to his force:
"I need to emphasize that this is a deeply personal and difficult decision on his part and one that will have my understanding, compassion and support. What matters most to me is my boss's skills, knowledge and abilities and not my boss's gender. I hope that you can provide him the same support, as Mr. Stanton has every desire to continue his work with the city of Largo."
However, negative, and sometimes vicious, messages began to pour into the newspapers and city hall, crashing its e-mail system. Six days later, before a hastily called City Commission meeting to vote on Resolution No. 1924 to terminate Stanton, Patricia Gerard, Largo’s first woman mayor in their century of existence, said, "This is an important moment for the city of Largo. Are we going to be small-minded and intolerant or progressive, innovative and passionate?" The answer that night, through a vote of 5-2, was that Largo, which calls itself the "City of Progress," started the process to fire Steve Stanton.
Commissioner Gay Gentry admitted that, "His brain is the same today as it was last week. He may be even able to be a better city manager." Then, before voting against him, Gentry added, "But I sense that he's lost his standing as a leader among the employees of the city." Among some 500 people who packed the commission's chamber was Lighthouse Baptist Church Pastor Ron Saunders, whom the paper quoted earlier saying, "He's not going to be a man and he's not going to be a female. He's going to be an it." During the 3 ½-hour meeting, Saunders proclaimed, "If Jesus was here tonight, I can guarantee you he'd want him terminated." Another speaker said Stanton was possessed by demons.While not verbally stooping to such levels, Gentry and four other commissioners justified their votes against Stanton with talk of dissatisfaction with his job performance. But Rodney Woods, who voted against Stanton’s firing, and the first Black commissioner in the city's history, was possibly thinking of their vote to raise Stanton's salary barely six months before when he said, "You mean that just came to your mind?"
Beyond an understandable desire not to simply sound like the religious extremists before them, there may have been, as the saying goes, method behind the madness of suddenly asserting fault with Stanton's work that might demonstrate how connected they remain to Pastor Saunders and those like him.
Some of the same people also protested at City Hall in years past when commissioners considered adding citywide job protection for transgenders and gays. They succeeded in killing that ordinance but not a later policy that applies only to city employees. So, while Stanton’s employment contract says he can be fired without cause, the “causes” some commissioners seemed to be coming up with, on the spur of the moment, might have been motivated by the fear that they were, otherwise, in legal jeopardy because of the new nondiscrimination policy.
Some say that a result of the commission even considering forbidding discrimination against gays and transgenders four years ago was that Mary Gray Black, who had been a City Commissioner once before, ran again. During her "family values" campaign, she vowed not to vote for anything that was "contrary to God's will," specifically any future ordinance that might include sexual orientation.
She said that homosexuality was an "immoral lifestyle." She had also wanted to take powers away from the City Manager’s office, and had publicly tangled with Stanton after she was elected; and was the only commissioner to vote against his recent pay raise. Few aware of this history were surprised she was the first to exploit the secret that had exploded in Largo and she was the one who introduced the resolution to fire him.
Nor were they surprised that Commissioner Andy Guyette also voted for termination. He had opposed even including the phrase "sexual orientation" in the city's internal policy. Gentry, on the other hand, was a surprise as she had voted for the citywide nondiscrimination ordinance that failed. A former social studies teacher, she had compared it to past controversial efforts to ban discrimination against people of color. With Stanton’s fate before her, she might have recalled that position, or maybe she just forgot.
As a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, she might have remembered that group’s infamous refusal in 1939 to allow Black contralto Marian Anderson to perform in the DAR-controlled Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. That prompted First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to resign from the group and arrange for Ms. Anderson to sing with her glorious voice and thundering symbolism on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before an alternatingly awestruck and weeping mixed race crowd of 75,000. She had, no doubt, at some point read Mrs. Roosevelt’s words from nearly seventy years before: “You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organization has failed,” or maybe she forgot.
Ms. Gentry (and the other three women who voted against Stanton) might also have thought of the fight her gender had been forced to wage for job protections and even the right to vote. She might have recalled these challenges in her own and our nation’s history, but, apparently, she could only support full equality for someone transgender in concept, not in her presence, not in Largo, or maybe she just forgot.
Stanton has worked for the city of Largo for a total of 17 years, his employment contract renewed again and again and again. With only one dissension, he had received, less than six months before, a sizeable salary increase reflecting the commission’s approval of his performance. But six days after newspapers appeared on Largo’s streets revealing that he was transgender they were claiming they actually thought he was terrible at this job and voted to fire him as quickly as possible. Could it be any clearer that the sole reason they moved to fire Stanton was that he is transgender. Too many in our society still do not accept people who are different from them, regardless of their potential, regardless even of their proven abilities. This is a sad reality, but not a new one.
More encouraging is that not all of the some 60 members of the public the commission heard before voting were against Stanton. Many urged them to retain him, including Nadine Smith, Executive Director of Equality Florida, a not-for-profit advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, who spoke movingly in his favor.
Recently, she told me:
"Steve Stanton's firing is discrimination - plain and simple. It stems from a willingness to dehumanize transgender people in such a way that to makes firing routine, discrimination rampant and violence frighteningly common.
The hatred expressed by the mob, the fury that surrounded his dismissal that night by those who justified themselves by invoking God is a frightening and public example of what happens to LGBT people all the time but rarely with such visibility. Largo is a wake up call to those who believe quietly in equality. In your silence, the mob speaks for you and takes your absence as license to systemically ignore the civil and human rights of LGBT people."
If the action inside the commission chamber was not shameful enough, there was more. After Smith spoke, she was in the lobby with a sign that read simply “Don’t Discriminate” and flier that said the same thing. A fellow Stanton supporter asked Nadine for her flier.
A Largo’s police officers demanded that Smith take back the flier. Since people were handing out fliers inside the room debating Stanton’s “worthiness,” Smith asked the officer why she couldn’t do the same. He grabbed her, first shoving her toward an exit, then pushing her toward a back room away from the crowd. Although she is only 5 ft. 7, he and three other officers from the police force with a documented history of racism and sexual exploitation threw a woman of color to the ground and held her down. She was charged with resisting arrest with violence, a felony, and disturbing others' assembly, a misdemeanor.
Largo police spokesman Mac McMullen insisted to a reporter that no one had been allowed to distribute fliers (which from my understanding and other eye witnesses is simply not true) because they thought they might be disruptive in “an emotionally charged meeting”; incredibly adding that “…they present a fire hazard; plus, when they end up on the floor, people can slip on them. Besides..." he said, "Smith didn’t have permission to pass out fliers ‘as required by city law.’’”
It’s one thing for Mr. McMullen to have forgotten much of America's political history; that fliers don't do anything to make things disruptive, people do; and that our country, and its foundation of civil liberties, would not have been secured were it not for "emotionally charged meetings." But what about the “city law” requiring a “permit” (which would take more time to obtain, if needed, than the timeframe for the "emergency" meeting) he accused Smith of violating?
Here is the language from Largo's City Ordinance Section 3 on handbills, fliers, etc…:
Sec. 3-5. Distributing handbills, etc.; throwing handbills, etc., into vehicles or upon property.
"It shall be unlawful to distribute to pedestrians upon any street, park or other public place in the city, or to distribute to passengers in any bus, or to throw into or upon any bus or automobile or other vehicle, any handbill, dodger or advertising notice of a commercial character. It shall also be unlawful for any person to distribute or deposit any handbill, advertising notice, printed matter or rubbish upon any real property located in the city, without the consent of the owner thereof.”
Smith’s fliers concerned human rights and a resolution before the city’s governing body without any “commercial character.” She should not have been detained for any reason under this code.
Looking further, Section 3-6 regulates putting fliers on vehicles, which obviously doesn’t apply. Sec. 3-7 prohibits “advertising causing obstruction of streets or sidewalks.”
No possible violation there given that it was an indoor meeting.
Perhaps there is an applicable law that I couldn’t find; that Smith didn’t know about; that the officer refused to identify. Perhaps he couldn’t answer the simply question “Why?” because the real reason lies not in the law books but in hearts hardened by prejudice. It was not the law that led to Smith’s arrest or Stanton’s performance as City Manager that guided events in Largo that night, but the presence in Largo City Hall of the twins born of fear: bigotry and ignorance.
Five commissioners, in the Mayor’s words, figuratively threw Stanton “on the trash heap,” and four police officers, reacting with their own fears and hatred of those standing up for the rights of someone who is different, literally threw Smith to the ground, and, then, into jail. Her bail was over $5000, and she faces the possibility of going to prison.
Smith told me:
"We often talk about the connection between hateful speech and hate motivated violence. The atmosphere in Largo gave license for people to bully, humiliate, and attack Stanton – the highest ranking employee. That is a dangerous environment and I applaud everyone who was there to stand up for equality and fairness in the face of such naked hostility. We can never allow ourselves to be intimidated, bullied out of speaking up or standing up to discrimination.”
After the hearings in 2003, when the commission refused to ban discrimination anywhere in Largo against gays and those who are transgender, Commissioner Gentry said, "I think it is neat we are here in this room and heard some very divergent opinions. Yet no one is taking up arms, and our police officers are not hauling people out of the room." I wonder what she thought last week when she heard about Nadine Smith.
Behind all of this is the insidious hatred that continues to infect our society like a virus, including those in power who have no understanding of the heart and soul of our founding as a nation—the protection of the minority from the tyranny of the majority—and who, urged on by the preening pious, dismiss the civil rights of those who don't see the world the way they do, of those who are different. I wrote about some of its other symptoms not too long ago under the title, "Trickle Down of Hatred.”
The "trickle down of hatred" is very real across our society. The fury that erupted in Largo, Florida, is not an isolated incident but one that should be taken seriously. It shows how our democracy continues to be undermined and controlled by intolerance that is fueled by selective religious dogma. It demonstrates how a few closed minded, powerful individuals are able to vilify a human being for simply being who he is while dismissing his excellence and achievements as a community’s employee and neighbor. Because they suddenly discover him to be something they are not, in their eyes, in their actions, he is also suddenly less than; less than a human being, less than a fellow citizen, less than an American.
Stanton was clearly shocked by the move to dismiss him.
"It's just real painful to know that seven days ago I was a good guy and now I have no integrity, I have no trust and most painful, I have no followers.”
The irony behind all of this is that Stanton and Smith, the two main victims of this bigotry and intolerance, are the ones calling for patience, compassion, love, and understanding. When asked if he intended to sue, Stanton said:
"In so many ways, I am Largo. [It would be] like suing my mother."
“What happened that night did not represent all of Largo,” Smith said. "Many residents have called and expressed outrage, They have asked how they can help reverse the damage done that night to their community. Steve Stanton deserves to be judged by his job performance and the real Largo deserves a chance to repair the image the nation now holds.”
Stanton has used his option to appeal the commission’s resolution in a unique public meeting in the next 30 days before their second vote, the one that could make his dismissal final. Ever hopeful, he’s asked for three hours to present information about what being transgender means, while those who voted against him the first time continue to insist his gender identity had nothing to do with their decision to fire the man most of them had once praised.
"I'm realistic enough to know it's going to require an extraordinary step to stop the train going down the track with a certain degree of speed and to confront some of the folks back in the commission chambers who will be talking about what Jesus would do," Stanton told the paper that started that train.
It’s predictable that the commissioners will insist they have no responsibility to listen to the national and international gender identity experts, or highly respected civil rights groups that, like Smith’s, are siding with Stanton. But Commissioner Gigi Arntzen insisted before their first vote that his future would depend entirely on the reaction of the community, and the proverbial tide of public opinion seems to now be flowing in Stanton’s favor.
A professional poll last week paid for by the “St. Petersburg Times” found that a majority of area residents think the move to fire him was wrong. 65% of respondents to a separate, online poll said, "Keep him."
Asserting that the process had been hijacked by a handful who falsely claim to speak for all believers, 350 religiously affiliated residents demonstrated for him this week, and many more, representing both sides, than the 500 who attended February’s meeting are expected at his special hearing.
As for Smith, she told me:
"First, I would like to thank everyone who called and emailed me the past week. You reaching out and supporting me through this time is wonderful and inspiring. It is amazing how so many of you, some I have not heard from for years, took the time to see how I am. I am fine and would like to remind everyone that we still have much work to do.
It is up to each of us everyday, in our communities, to stand up and speak up so that the toxic atmosphere of hatred and bigotry does not make invisible the fair minded, compassionate majority who care about advancing civil rights for all people."
These type of things happen every day all over this country. Passionate activists put themselves on the line for our civil and human rights without knowing what might happen. It seems that a majority of the caring citizens of Largo do not support this decision to dismiss Mr. Stanton. Only through the fury of a mean-spirited mob did this all happen.
In times of deep distress, division and dishonesty, both Ms. Smith and Mr. Stanton have lessons to teach each of us about life, leadership, ourselves and love.
And I refer those who continue to excuse their treatment of their fellow human beings on so-called religious grounds to the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and, yes, the Bible:
Exodus 23:9:
“You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
And Corinthians 13:
"And though I have all faith so that I could move mountains but have not love, I am nothing."
And finally, Psalm 37:11:
"But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."
Evidently not yet in Largo, Florida.
Please note that the views presented below are those of Chip Arndt and do not necessarily represent the views of the membership of Freedom Democrats.
People are encouraged to contribute their thoughts, on this topic and others, in the form of opinion pieces. Please send these to info@freedomdems.org for review.
By Chip Arndt
President, Freedom Democrats
www.FreedomDems.org
March 13, 2007
Largo is a central Florida town of roughly 76,000 people, close to the Gulf of Mexico, about 22 miles west of Tampa. Though it has a mayor, it was the first city in Florida and second in the nation to be run by an appointed City Manager reporting to a group of elected city commissioners.
Each year, for the last 14 years, they have renewed the contract of Steve Stanton for that job. Known to be forceful and energetic, his responsibilities include overseeing the city's $130 million dollar yearly budget and 1200 employees. Last September, his outstanding performance resulted in an $11,000 pay increase. It appears he will not be getting another raise this September because, by then, he will apparently no longer be Largo’s top official.
Subject to more tornadoes than the average Florida town, none struck Largo more forcefully than the revelation by the "St. Petersburg Times" that one of their reporters had ambushed Stanton with the rumor that he was transgender which he confirmed. Stanton’s wife was one of the few people who already knew, and he had planned to announce it in May or June when his 13-year old son, who did not yet know, would be out of town, away from the potentially explosive public reaction. He asked that they not print the story until he had time to tell his son, but the "Times" violated their agreement to give him 48 hours by posting it online the next day and Stanton immediately found himself in the eye of a storm that soon swept in attention from people and media around the world.
He e-mailed every city employee with a heartfelt message informing them of what the rest of Largo would soon learn, adding:
"As everyone knows, I have never been a traditional city manager and have learned to confront my fears. Last week, I was training with the Fire Department's Technical Rescue Team and rappelled down a very small rope 300 feet to the ground. As I walked away, a spectator told me I was crazy to do such a thing, but admitted I showed a lot of courage. However, I tried to explain that this exercise did not depend on courage, but an absolute trust in the team that supported me. It is with this same sense of trust in the community and my Largo family that I now begin a new journey in my life."
Largo Chief of Police, Lester Aradi, sent his own e-mail to his force:
"I need to emphasize that this is a deeply personal and difficult decision on his part and one that will have my understanding, compassion and support. What matters most to me is my boss's skills, knowledge and abilities and not my boss's gender. I hope that you can provide him the same support, as Mr. Stanton has every desire to continue his work with the city of Largo."
However, negative, and sometimes vicious, messages began to pour into the newspapers and city hall, crashing its e-mail system. Six days later, before a hastily called City Commission meeting to vote on Resolution No. 1924 to terminate Stanton, Patricia Gerard, Largo’s first woman mayor in their century of existence, said, "This is an important moment for the city of Largo. Are we going to be small-minded and intolerant or progressive, innovative and passionate?" The answer that night, through a vote of 5-2, was that Largo, which calls itself the "City of Progress," started the process to fire Steve Stanton.
Commissioner Gay Gentry admitted that, "His brain is the same today as it was last week. He may be even able to be a better city manager." Then, before voting against him, Gentry added, "But I sense that he's lost his standing as a leader among the employees of the city." Among some 500 people who packed the commission's chamber was Lighthouse Baptist Church Pastor Ron Saunders, whom the paper quoted earlier saying, "He's not going to be a man and he's not going to be a female. He's going to be an it." During the 3 ½-hour meeting, Saunders proclaimed, "If Jesus was here tonight, I can guarantee you he'd want him terminated." Another speaker said Stanton was possessed by demons.While not verbally stooping to such levels, Gentry and four other commissioners justified their votes against Stanton with talk of dissatisfaction with his job performance. But Rodney Woods, who voted against Stanton’s firing, and the first Black commissioner in the city's history, was possibly thinking of their vote to raise Stanton's salary barely six months before when he said, "You mean that just came to your mind?"
Beyond an understandable desire not to simply sound like the religious extremists before them, there may have been, as the saying goes, method behind the madness of suddenly asserting fault with Stanton's work that might demonstrate how connected they remain to Pastor Saunders and those like him.
Some of the same people also protested at City Hall in years past when commissioners considered adding citywide job protection for transgenders and gays. They succeeded in killing that ordinance but not a later policy that applies only to city employees. So, while Stanton’s employment contract says he can be fired without cause, the “causes” some commissioners seemed to be coming up with, on the spur of the moment, might have been motivated by the fear that they were, otherwise, in legal jeopardy because of the new nondiscrimination policy.
Some say that a result of the commission even considering forbidding discrimination against gays and transgenders four years ago was that Mary Gray Black, who had been a City Commissioner once before, ran again. During her "family values" campaign, she vowed not to vote for anything that was "contrary to God's will," specifically any future ordinance that might include sexual orientation.
She said that homosexuality was an "immoral lifestyle." She had also wanted to take powers away from the City Manager’s office, and had publicly tangled with Stanton after she was elected; and was the only commissioner to vote against his recent pay raise. Few aware of this history were surprised she was the first to exploit the secret that had exploded in Largo and she was the one who introduced the resolution to fire him.
Nor were they surprised that Commissioner Andy Guyette also voted for termination. He had opposed even including the phrase "sexual orientation" in the city's internal policy. Gentry, on the other hand, was a surprise as she had voted for the citywide nondiscrimination ordinance that failed. A former social studies teacher, she had compared it to past controversial efforts to ban discrimination against people of color. With Stanton’s fate before her, she might have recalled that position, or maybe she just forgot.
As a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, she might have remembered that group’s infamous refusal in 1939 to allow Black contralto Marian Anderson to perform in the DAR-controlled Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. That prompted First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to resign from the group and arrange for Ms. Anderson to sing with her glorious voice and thundering symbolism on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before an alternatingly awestruck and weeping mixed race crowd of 75,000. She had, no doubt, at some point read Mrs. Roosevelt’s words from nearly seventy years before: “You had an opportunity to lead in an enlightened way and it seems to me that your organization has failed,” or maybe she forgot.
Ms. Gentry (and the other three women who voted against Stanton) might also have thought of the fight her gender had been forced to wage for job protections and even the right to vote. She might have recalled these challenges in her own and our nation’s history, but, apparently, she could only support full equality for someone transgender in concept, not in her presence, not in Largo, or maybe she just forgot.
Stanton has worked for the city of Largo for a total of 17 years, his employment contract renewed again and again and again. With only one dissension, he had received, less than six months before, a sizeable salary increase reflecting the commission’s approval of his performance. But six days after newspapers appeared on Largo’s streets revealing that he was transgender they were claiming they actually thought he was terrible at this job and voted to fire him as quickly as possible. Could it be any clearer that the sole reason they moved to fire Stanton was that he is transgender. Too many in our society still do not accept people who are different from them, regardless of their potential, regardless even of their proven abilities. This is a sad reality, but not a new one.
More encouraging is that not all of the some 60 members of the public the commission heard before voting were against Stanton. Many urged them to retain him, including Nadine Smith, Executive Director of Equality Florida, a not-for-profit advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, who spoke movingly in his favor.
Recently, she told me:
"Steve Stanton's firing is discrimination - plain and simple. It stems from a willingness to dehumanize transgender people in such a way that to makes firing routine, discrimination rampant and violence frighteningly common.
The hatred expressed by the mob, the fury that surrounded his dismissal that night by those who justified themselves by invoking God is a frightening and public example of what happens to LGBT people all the time but rarely with such visibility. Largo is a wake up call to those who believe quietly in equality. In your silence, the mob speaks for you and takes your absence as license to systemically ignore the civil and human rights of LGBT people."
If the action inside the commission chamber was not shameful enough, there was more. After Smith spoke, she was in the lobby with a sign that read simply “Don’t Discriminate” and flier that said the same thing. A fellow Stanton supporter asked Nadine for her flier.
A Largo’s police officers demanded that Smith take back the flier. Since people were handing out fliers inside the room debating Stanton’s “worthiness,” Smith asked the officer why she couldn’t do the same. He grabbed her, first shoving her toward an exit, then pushing her toward a back room away from the crowd. Although she is only 5 ft. 7, he and three other officers from the police force with a documented history of racism and sexual exploitation threw a woman of color to the ground and held her down. She was charged with resisting arrest with violence, a felony, and disturbing others' assembly, a misdemeanor.
Largo police spokesman Mac McMullen insisted to a reporter that no one had been allowed to distribute fliers (which from my understanding and other eye witnesses is simply not true) because they thought they might be disruptive in “an emotionally charged meeting”; incredibly adding that “…they present a fire hazard; plus, when they end up on the floor, people can slip on them. Besides..." he said, "Smith didn’t have permission to pass out fliers ‘as required by city law.’’”
It’s one thing for Mr. McMullen to have forgotten much of America's political history; that fliers don't do anything to make things disruptive, people do; and that our country, and its foundation of civil liberties, would not have been secured were it not for "emotionally charged meetings." But what about the “city law” requiring a “permit” (which would take more time to obtain, if needed, than the timeframe for the "emergency" meeting) he accused Smith of violating?
Here is the language from Largo's City Ordinance Section 3 on handbills, fliers, etc…:
Sec. 3-5. Distributing handbills, etc.; throwing handbills, etc., into vehicles or upon property.
"It shall be unlawful to distribute to pedestrians upon any street, park or other public place in the city, or to distribute to passengers in any bus, or to throw into or upon any bus or automobile or other vehicle, any handbill, dodger or advertising notice of a commercial character. It shall also be unlawful for any person to distribute or deposit any handbill, advertising notice, printed matter or rubbish upon any real property located in the city, without the consent of the owner thereof.”
Smith’s fliers concerned human rights and a resolution before the city’s governing body without any “commercial character.” She should not have been detained for any reason under this code.
Looking further, Section 3-6 regulates putting fliers on vehicles, which obviously doesn’t apply. Sec. 3-7 prohibits “advertising causing obstruction of streets or sidewalks.”
No possible violation there given that it was an indoor meeting.
Perhaps there is an applicable law that I couldn’t find; that Smith didn’t know about; that the officer refused to identify. Perhaps he couldn’t answer the simply question “Why?” because the real reason lies not in the law books but in hearts hardened by prejudice. It was not the law that led to Smith’s arrest or Stanton’s performance as City Manager that guided events in Largo that night, but the presence in Largo City Hall of the twins born of fear: bigotry and ignorance.
Five commissioners, in the Mayor’s words, figuratively threw Stanton “on the trash heap,” and four police officers, reacting with their own fears and hatred of those standing up for the rights of someone who is different, literally threw Smith to the ground, and, then, into jail. Her bail was over $5000, and she faces the possibility of going to prison.
Smith told me:
"We often talk about the connection between hateful speech and hate motivated violence. The atmosphere in Largo gave license for people to bully, humiliate, and attack Stanton – the highest ranking employee. That is a dangerous environment and I applaud everyone who was there to stand up for equality and fairness in the face of such naked hostility. We can never allow ourselves to be intimidated, bullied out of speaking up or standing up to discrimination.”
After the hearings in 2003, when the commission refused to ban discrimination anywhere in Largo against gays and those who are transgender, Commissioner Gentry said, "I think it is neat we are here in this room and heard some very divergent opinions. Yet no one is taking up arms, and our police officers are not hauling people out of the room." I wonder what she thought last week when she heard about Nadine Smith.
Behind all of this is the insidious hatred that continues to infect our society like a virus, including those in power who have no understanding of the heart and soul of our founding as a nation—the protection of the minority from the tyranny of the majority—and who, urged on by the preening pious, dismiss the civil rights of those who don't see the world the way they do, of those who are different. I wrote about some of its other symptoms not too long ago under the title, "Trickle Down of Hatred.”
The "trickle down of hatred" is very real across our society. The fury that erupted in Largo, Florida, is not an isolated incident but one that should be taken seriously. It shows how our democracy continues to be undermined and controlled by intolerance that is fueled by selective religious dogma. It demonstrates how a few closed minded, powerful individuals are able to vilify a human being for simply being who he is while dismissing his excellence and achievements as a community’s employee and neighbor. Because they suddenly discover him to be something they are not, in their eyes, in their actions, he is also suddenly less than; less than a human being, less than a fellow citizen, less than an American.
Stanton was clearly shocked by the move to dismiss him.
"It's just real painful to know that seven days ago I was a good guy and now I have no integrity, I have no trust and most painful, I have no followers.”
The irony behind all of this is that Stanton and Smith, the two main victims of this bigotry and intolerance, are the ones calling for patience, compassion, love, and understanding. When asked if he intended to sue, Stanton said:
"In so many ways, I am Largo. [It would be] like suing my mother."
“What happened that night did not represent all of Largo,” Smith said. "Many residents have called and expressed outrage, They have asked how they can help reverse the damage done that night to their community. Steve Stanton deserves to be judged by his job performance and the real Largo deserves a chance to repair the image the nation now holds.”
Stanton has used his option to appeal the commission’s resolution in a unique public meeting in the next 30 days before their second vote, the one that could make his dismissal final. Ever hopeful, he’s asked for three hours to present information about what being transgender means, while those who voted against him the first time continue to insist his gender identity had nothing to do with their decision to fire the man most of them had once praised.
"I'm realistic enough to know it's going to require an extraordinary step to stop the train going down the track with a certain degree of speed and to confront some of the folks back in the commission chambers who will be talking about what Jesus would do," Stanton told the paper that started that train.
It’s predictable that the commissioners will insist they have no responsibility to listen to the national and international gender identity experts, or highly respected civil rights groups that, like Smith’s, are siding with Stanton. But Commissioner Gigi Arntzen insisted before their first vote that his future would depend entirely on the reaction of the community, and the proverbial tide of public opinion seems to now be flowing in Stanton’s favor.
A professional poll last week paid for by the “St. Petersburg Times” found that a majority of area residents think the move to fire him was wrong. 65% of respondents to a separate, online poll said, "Keep him."
Asserting that the process had been hijacked by a handful who falsely claim to speak for all believers, 350 religiously affiliated residents demonstrated for him this week, and many more, representing both sides, than the 500 who attended February’s meeting are expected at his special hearing.
As for Smith, she told me:
"First, I would like to thank everyone who called and emailed me the past week. You reaching out and supporting me through this time is wonderful and inspiring. It is amazing how so many of you, some I have not heard from for years, took the time to see how I am. I am fine and would like to remind everyone that we still have much work to do.
It is up to each of us everyday, in our communities, to stand up and speak up so that the toxic atmosphere of hatred and bigotry does not make invisible the fair minded, compassionate majority who care about advancing civil rights for all people."
These type of things happen every day all over this country. Passionate activists put themselves on the line for our civil and human rights without knowing what might happen. It seems that a majority of the caring citizens of Largo do not support this decision to dismiss Mr. Stanton. Only through the fury of a mean-spirited mob did this all happen.
In times of deep distress, division and dishonesty, both Ms. Smith and Mr. Stanton have lessons to teach each of us about life, leadership, ourselves and love.
And I refer those who continue to excuse their treatment of their fellow human beings on so-called religious grounds to the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and, yes, the Bible:
Exodus 23:9:
“You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
And Corinthians 13:
"And though I have all faith so that I could move mountains but have not love, I am nothing."
And finally, Psalm 37:11:
"But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."
Evidently not yet in Largo, Florida.
I think you have raised important points here. It's also useful to recognize that there may be legal ramifications to these events, which I've analyzed in my blog. http://jweissdiary.blogspot.com
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:13 PM
From reading this enlightening review of events, it brings to mind the obvious ramifications.... Florida Law prohibits discrimination of any kind based on.... "Race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, or marital status”.... There is no statewide non-discrimination law that includes protections based on neither sexual orientation nor gender identity.
This to me is appalling.... considering the number of same sex couples in the state of Florida has increased nearly 383% during the decade of the 90's and is well on the way to tripling that in the first decade of this millennium... Florida tries to be a progressive state but in this arena it is badly lacking good judgment and well could be said to be “backward” in its thinking.
One hope is that this case in which the sole reason for Steve Stanton’s dismissal is blatantly based solely on bigotry and hatred…. and Florida’s hate laws do include a provision for “sexual identity” but it too provides no support for gender identity…. So there is no protection for any individual in the state of Florida (or several others) from being fired without cause, and this is unacceptable in my opinion.
Posted by
Josh Pollard |
9:41 AM
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