President's Message - September 2017

September 5, 2017

Unlike Floridians living in approximately 85% of Florida's 67 counties, Palm Beach County's LGBTQ residents are protected from discrimination in employment, housing and the full range of public accommodations. Our public school students are protected from harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. While lesbian and gay couples are free to marry statewide, couples in Palm Beach County who do not choose to get married, can register as domestic partners and enjoy limited benefits. And each month, more LGBTQ youth in our county are being protected from the abuses related to so-called "conversion therapy."

All LGBTQ Floridians - not just those of us in Palm Beach County - should enjoy the same rights, benefits and protections.  However, outside of South Florida and a few pockets here and there in the Sunshine State, little has been done to ensure that progress will be made for LGBTQ people statewide.

For the 11th consecutive year, the Florida Legislature has failed to amend the Florida Civil Rights Act and Florida's Fair Housing Act to include LGBTQ Floridians. Moreover, Governor Rick Scott, like his predecessor Charlie Crist, has failed to respond to PBCHRC's repeated requests to issue an executive order providing equal treatment for LGBTQ state employers and contractors.

In our nation's capital, no action has been taken on the Equality Act of 2017 (S.1006/H.R.2282), which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Jury Selection and Services Act and other federal laws to include "sexual orientation" and "gender identity."  These amendments are necessary to provide consistent and explicit nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people across key areas of life, including employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally funded programs, and jury service. The Equality Act would also update the definition of "public accommodations" to include virtually every place where business is conducted throughout the country.

The Equality Act has been co-sponsored by Senator Bill Nelson (and 45 other members of the U.S. Senate) as well as by Representatives Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel and Alcee Hastings (and 193 other members of the U.S. House of Representatives).  Although PBCHRC asked Congressman Brian Mast to become a co-sponsor when we me with him last June, to date, he has not done so.

Based on the actions, appointments and statements made by the Trump-Pence administration, as well as the inaction by Congressional leaders, it appears that protecting the rights of LGBTQ Americans is not a national priority.

Therefore, we must continue to act locally to ensure LGBTQ people are provided with equal rights, protections and benefits.

SUCCESSES  IN THE 2017 MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Since 1988, volunteers for the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance (PBCHRCVA) have interviewed hundreds of candidates for public office. We have done this to educate candidates and public officials and select candidates for endorsements. PBCHRCVA endorses candidates who support LGBTQ initiatives and privacy rights.  Endorsements of candidates are made upon consideration of:

• How a candidate has voted on LGBTQ issues
• How a candidate has supported the Palm Beach County LGBTQ community

PBCHRCVA reviewed the records of incumbent office holders throughout the county and interviewed numerous candidates seeking election to municipal offices in this spring's municipal elections. Much of the Council's ability to screen, interview and endorse candidates rests on the shoulders of Rae Franks, who has served as the Council's Secretary since the early-1990s. The entire Board of Directors is grateful to the time and energy Rae has spent over the past several months - and over many, many years - contacting candidates, scheduling interviews, and asking the questions that help us make difficult endorsement choices.

PBCHRCVA works diligently to identify more LGBTQ-supportive residents and get them registered to vote. In the weeks before the elections, we conducted an extensive Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) campaign in several municipalities. We encouraged supporters to get their LGBTQ-friendly family, co-workers and friends to vote-by-mail or get to the polls to vote for candidates endorsed by PBCHRCVA.

In last spring's municipal elections,  LGBTQ voters throughout Palm Beach County once again turned out in record numbers. Together with our allies throughout the county, we helped elect (or re-elect) 10 candidates endorsed by the PBCHRC Voters Alliance.   

Based on the endorsement criteria, PBCHRC has already made the following endorsements of candidates seeking local, state and federal offices in 2018.

U.S Congress (Dist. 20) - Alcee Hastings

U.S Congress (Dist. 21) - Lois Frankel

U.S Congress (Dist. 22) - Ted Deutch

Florida House of Representatives (Dist. 90) - Joe Casello

Palm Beach County Commission (Dist. 6) - Melissa McKinlay

Palm Beach County School Board (Dist. 4) - Erica Whitfield

Palm Beach County School Board (Dist. 7) - Debra Robinson

Delray Beach City Commission (Seat 3) - Mitch Katz

Riviera Beach City Council (Dist. 4) - Dawn Pardo

Wellington Village Council - John T. McGovern

Wellington Village Council - Tanya Siskind

West Palm Beach City Commission (Dist. 1) - Sylvia Moffett

West Palm Beach City Commission (Dist. 3) - Paula Ryan

West Palm Beach City Commission (Dist. 5) - Shanon Materio

Most endorsements for contested races in 2018 will not be made until after the qualifying period ends this winter for municipal elections, and next summer for federal, state and local elections.

For a complete list of candidates PBCHRCVA has endorsed since 2016, please go to http://pbchrc.blogspot.com/2017/03/pbchrc-voters-alliance-endorsements.html. You can be sure PBCHRC will be calling on all elected officials to take steps to enact laws and policies to provide equal protection, treatment and benefits for the local LGBTQ community

Thanks to your support of our endorsed candidates over the years, it is illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ people with regard to employment, housing and public accommodation throughout Palm Beach County. As a result of PBCHRC's efforts, there are now 122 ordinances, resolutions, collective bargaining agreements and policies which provide LGBTQ  residents and visitors equal rights, protections and benefits.  A complete list can be found by going to www.pbchrc.org/our-impact and clicking on "Laws & Policies."

BANNING CONVERSION THERAPY

PBCHRC's top priority since 2016 is to ban the practice of conversion therapy on minors throughout Palm Beach County. (Conversion therapy, long discredited by the nation's leading medical and mental health organizations, is counseling based on the erroneous assumption that LGBTQ identities are mental disorders that can be cured through aversion treatment).

For more than a year, PBCHRC Board Member Trent Steele and I have been coordinating the efforts to ban conversion therapy throughout Palm Beach County. We have partnered with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Southern Poverty Law Center and SAVE in our efforts. In August, Trent and I brainstormed with several of our team members at Lavender Law, a national conference which brings together LGBTQ and allied legal professionals dedicated making advancements in laws relating to the LGBTQ community.  During the program on conversion therapy, PBCHRC was recognized for our successes.

And while I am on the topic of successes, two more Palm Beach County municipalities - the Village of Wellington and the City of Greenacres - have enacted ordinances to effectively ban conversion therapy for minors by licensed professionals.

In June, the Wellington Village Council held two public hearings at PBCHRC's request on an ordinance to ban the conversion therapy for minors. At both hearings, Dr. Julie Harren Hamilton, a Palm Beach Gardens psychologist who is an outspoken advocate for what she calls "sexual orientation change therapy," urged the Village Council not to enact the ban. (Dr. Hamilton had previously spoken against banning conversion therapy at the Palm Beach County Commission, the West Palm Beach City Commission and the Delray Beach City Commission, but to no avail).

 Dr. David Pickup, the nation's leading advocate of what he calls "reparative therapy" (and who is prohibited from practicing it in California) also tried to convince the Village Council that it was possible to change the sexual orientation and gender identity of LGBT children through therapy.

However, these two quacks were no match for Dr. Rachel Needle, a local psychologist who is Florida's leading expert on the harms of conversion therapy. (Dr. Needle had already convinced elected officials in West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, Riviera Beach and Delray Beach of the harms of conversion therapy - and each municipality enacted an ordinance banning it). PBCHRC is grateful for Rachel's volunteer work on behalf of LGBTQ youth.

The Liberty Counsel, a national anti-LGBT legal organization, sent a letter threatening to file suit if Wellington banned conversion therapy. Over the past year, the organization sent similar letters to Palm Beach County, the City of West Palm Beach and the City of Delray Beach. However, to date, no lawsuits have been filed.

An administrator from Kings Academy, a local Christian school, spoke and urged the Village Council to vote against enacting the ban a both hearings. His wife, mother and even his teenage son all joined him in speaking out in opposition. Several other self-described Christian residents also spoke out against the ban. It was obvious by the comments made by a majority of the Village Council Members at both public hearings that Dr. Needle was far more persuasive than Drs. Hamilton and Pickup.

At First Reading on June 13, Vice Mayor John McGovern, Councilwoman Tanya Siskind and Councilmen Michael Napoleone and Michael Drahos all voted in favor of the ban, Mayor Anne Gerwig was the sole opponent. However, at Final Reading on June 27, Councilman Drahos, possibly swayed by sheer number of Christian residents/voters who spoke in opposition to the ban, changed his vote, joining Mayor Gerwig in opposition to the ban. However, with the three votes cast by Vice Mayor McGovern, Councilwoman Siskind and Councilman Napoleone, the ban was enacted and took effect immediately.

Thanks go out to Vice Mayor McGovern, Councilwoman Siskind and Councilman Napoleone for their insightful comments at the two hearings. Thanks also go out to PBCHRC Board Member Meredith Ockman for coordinating the campaign in Wellington and to PBCHRC Board Member Jamie Todd Foreman-Plakas for his persuasive presentation to the Wellington Village Council concerning the legal aspects relating to banning coversion therapy for minors.   

With much less drama, in August, the Greenacres City Council voted to enact a ban on conversion therapy for minors. The sole vote against the ordinance was cast by Councilman Peter Noble, who has initially voted against directing the City Attorney to draft an ordinance for consideration by the City Council.  At First Reading, Noble surprised everyone by voting in favor of the ban. However, at Final reading, he again flip-flopped and voted against the ban.  Regardless, with a 4-1 vote, the ban took effect upon passage.

Thanks go out to Greenacres City Councilwoman Paula Bousquet and  PBCHRC Board Members Meredith Ockman and Jamie Foreman for ensuring that Greenacres would,become the seventh Palm Beach County municipality to enact an ordinance to effectively ban conversion therapy for minors by licensed professionals.

Across the nation, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, the District of Columbia, Pima County (AZ), Cincinnati (OH), Seattle (WA), Pittsburgh (PA), Toledo (OH), Columbus (OH), Philadelphia (PA), Allentown (PA), Dayton (OH) and Athens (OH) have laws preventing licensed mental health providers from offering conversion therapy to minors. (New York's ban is uniquely the result of an order signed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and not legislation.)

In Florida, the municipalities of West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Boynton Beach, Riviera Beach, Delray Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Miami, Wilton Manors, Miami Beach, Bay Harbor Islands, El Portal, Key West and Tampa also have banned the practice.

A few months ago, the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners approved (on First Reading) an ordinance banning conversion therapy for minors. Final Reading is set for October 2. Kudos to our South-Florida counterpart SAVE (www.save.lgbt) for their success in banning conversion therapy in several municipalities in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, and for their anticipated success with the the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners.

PBCHRC continues to work to enact bans on conversion therapy in other local municipalities we are working with the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners to enact a countywide ban protecting LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy before the end of the year.  In addition, PBCHRC is working closely with the Human Rights Council of North Central Florida (www.hrcncf.org) in their efforts to enact conversion therapy bans in Alachua County and in Gainesville.

PBCHRC's 30th ANNIVERSARY

On Saturday evening, January 13, 2018,  PBCHRC will kick off our 30th anniversary celebrations with our annual Winter Fête for major donors.  This year's event will be held at Tarpon Cove, the Palm Beach home of James Berwind and Kevin Clark.  

PBCHRC also is seeking donors to help underwrite our Winter Fête. Benefactors who contribute $3,000 will receive four tickets and Sponsors who contribute $1,500 will receive two tickets to the event. All underwriters will be invited to a fabulous pre-party at a private home in early January. Our underwriters to date include:

Hosts 

James Berwind and Kevin Clark

Benefactors 

Congressman Mark Foley 

Daniel S. Hall 

The Law and Mediation Offices of Rand Hoch, P.A. 

George J. Palladino and Jerrold St. George 

Trent Steele and Wayne Lewis

Sponsors 

Lee Bell and Fotios Pantazis 

Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary Lou Berger 

State Representative Lori Berman 

Bill Bone 

Mauricio Busa and Barry Hayes 

Kerensa and Alicia Butler-Gile 

Christopher Caneles and Stephen Nesbitt 

David Cohen and Paul Bernabeo 

Bill Eberhardt 

FAU Public Ethics Academy - Dr. Peter Cruise, Executive Director 

Charlie Fredrickson 

Michael Grattendick and Chip Freeman 

Howard Grossman, M.D. 

West Palm Beach City Commissioner Keith James 

Sid Lesowitz and Peter Rogers 

MBAF, Accountants and Advisors, LLC 

Lou Marotta and Mike Fullwood 

Joseph Pubillones Interiors 

Senator Kevin Rader 

Richard and Ellen Rampell 

West Palm Beach City Commissioner Paula Ryan 

J. P. Sasser 

Don Todorich - Corcoran Group R.E 

Scott Velozo and Stephen Mooney 

Donald Watren and Tony Jaggi 

Gregg and Rebecca Weiss

Tickets are $300 per person and since tickets to both the 2016 and 2017 Winter Fêtes sold out long before we had the opportunity to send out invitations, we expect the 2018 Winter Fête to do the same.

To become a Benefactor or a Sponsor, or to buy individual tickets, please go to  www.pbchrc.org/events.

OTHER NEWS

*    Earlier this year, PBCHRC sent our third letter to Governor Rick Scott requesting him to update his Executive Order on "Reaffirming Commitment to Diversity in Government" to specifically include "sexual orientation" and "gender identity or expression" as protected classes. However, once again, it appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

*    Longtime PBCHRC supporter Joseph Pubillones, whose daughter is a student at Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, has been appointed as  PBCHRC's new  representative on the Palm Beach County School District's Diversity & Equity Committee.

*    PBCHRC Vice President Carly Cass continues to work closely with school board members and school district staff as work continues on developing a comprehensive sex education program which will be LGBTQ-inclusive.

*     Three of Palm Beach County's representatives in Congress - Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel and Alcee Hastings - have signed on as co-sponsors of the Therapeutic Fraud Protection Act of 2017 (H.R. 2119). If enacted, the practice of conversion therapy will be banned nationwide. Although PBCHRC asked Congressman Brian Mast to become a co-sponsor when we me with him last June, to date, he has not done so. Although both have been asked, to date, neither Bill Nelson nor Marco Rubio has signed on as co-sponsors to the Senate version of the bill.

*    PBCHRC  continues to work with Palm Beach County's newest municipality, the City of Westlake, on an LGBTQ-inclusive Civil Rights Ordinance.

On a final note, after sexual orientation was enacted as a protected class under the Palm Beach County Fair Housing Ordinance in 1990, gay activist (and subsequently PBCHRC President) Norm Aaron was appointed to serve on the Fair Housing Board. In 2002, following Norm's death, PBCHRC Secretary Rae Franks was appointed to the Board, Rae served with distinction (including several terms as chair of what is now the Palm Beach County Fair Housing/Equal Employment Board) until she stepped down this summer. Former PBCHRC Vice President Deidre Newton was recently appointed to the Board.  

PBCHRC thanks Rae for her dedication to public service and wishes Deidre success in her new role.

Since 1988, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council has worked diligently on behalf of the LGBTQ community. With your support, we will continue to do so in the years to come - and we will keep you posted on our progress!

Judge Rand Hoch (retired),
President and Founder