The Year in Review -- and 2019 Too!

 

A look back at LGBTQ progress  throughout Palm Beach County over the past two years

DECEMBER 2020 The City of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County file Joint Petition for Panel Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc in Otto v. City of Boca Raton, the case seeking to strike down their ordinances banning conversion therapy.  The Cities of Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Greenacres, Lake Worth Beach, Riviera Beach, and West Palm Beach, Florida join the City of Miami's amicus brief in support of The City of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County's Joint Petition for Panel Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc in Otto v. City of Boca Raton.  West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James signs on to the Freedom for All Americans letter to Members of Congress urging them to enact comprehensive federal LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections.  The City of West Palm Beach earns a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Municipal Equality Index. Only six other municipalities in Florida were awarded 100 points. NOVEMBER 2020 A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reverses the District Court’s denial of plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction in Otto v. City of Boca Raton and remands the case to the District Court, thus allowing the therapists to, once again, practice their quackery on local children. The City of South Bay adopts an LGBTQ-inclusive civil rights resolution. OCTOBER 2020 The City of Riviera Beach enacts an LGBTQ-inclusive civil rights ordinance. The Commissioners of the Port of Palm Beach unanimously vote to add "gender identity or expression" to the Port's Equal Opportunity Statement for all Port policies and contracts. PBCHRC Board Member G. Joseph Garcia is named to the Board of Directors for the FSU Pride Alumni Network SEPTEMBER 2020 The Towns of Haverhill and Juno Beach enact LGBTQ-inclusive civil rights ordinances. The City of Palm Beach Gardens adopts a resolution denouncing hate crimes and discrimination against LGBTQ people. AUGUST 2020 The Village of North Palm Beach enacts an LGBTQ-inclusive civil rights ordinance. The City of West Palm Beach amends its Equal Opportunity Ordinance by extending protection from discrimination to employees working for small businesses (those with 5-14 employees). PBCHRC Board Member Chauncey Graham is appointed to serve on the West Palm Beach Mayor's Task Force for Racial and Ethnic Equality and selected for Leadership Florida Connect 2021. JULY 2020 PBCHRC Board Member Jasmin Lewis is named Victory Fund Empowerment Fellow. JUNE 2020 The City of Westlake enacts an LGBTQ-inclusive civil rights ordinance. G. Joseph Garcia is named Chair of PBCHRC Charitable Foundation. MAY 2020 PBCHRC Board Member Jasmin Lewis elected delegate to Democratic National Convention. The 2020 Daniel S. Hall Social Justice Awards are presented to graduating seniors Kyle Ahern and Theo Shusterman of the Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, and to Endora Guillaume of Park Vista Community High School APRIL 2020 The Boynton Beach City Commission unanimously votes to designate all single-occupancy restrooms in municipal properties "All Gender." PBCHRC becomes a “trusted voice” for the County efforts regarding the 2020 U.S. Census. MARCH 2020  Ty Penserga, an openly gay man, was re-elected to the Boynton Beach City Commission and became the city's Vice Mayor. Ray Caranci, an openly gay man, is elected to the Haverhill Town Council. FEBRUARY 2020 Palm Beach County‘s Facilities Development & Operations Department designates single-occupancy restrooms in properties owned and leased by the County as “All Gender.” PBCHRC Board Member Tamara Sager joins the Palm Beach County Multicultural Committee and Complete Count Committee. JANUARY 2020 The City of West Palm Beach designates the single-occupancy restrooms in the City Hall Complex as "Gender Neutral." NOVEMBER 2019 Lake Worth Beach City Commissioners unanimously adopt a resolution aimed at eliminating bullying and harassment in city facilities and at programs provided by the city. Palm Beach County, the Cities of Delray Beach and West Palm Beach, the Village of Wellington sign on to the appellate brief filed by the City of Miami Beach in opposition to the decision of an Orange County circuit court judge that nullified that county’s LGBTQ-inclusive Human Rights Ordinance. OCTOBER 2019 The PBCHRC Charitable Foundation makes a grant of $1,000 to the Palm Beach Gardens High School Gay-Straight Alliance. AUGUST 2019 The PBCHRC Charitable Foundation makes an initial grant to the University of Virginia to pay for the meal plan for a gay student, a graduate of Forest Hill High School, for each semester until he graduates, provided he maintains a C average. JULY 2019 The Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners amends the definition of “sexual orientation" in the County’s Ordinance for Housing and Places of Public Accommodation from "male or female homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality, by preference or practice" to "heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality or asexuality, whether actual or perceived." JUNE 2019 PBCHRC establishes the PBCHRC Charitable Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization created to fund educational scholarships and other charitable endeavors. MAY 2019 Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw establishes an LGBTQ Liaison Unit to promote a positive relationship between PBSO and the LGBTQ community. APRIL 2019 PBCHRC President Rand Hoch is appointed to serve on the Government Efficiency, Budget and Taxes Policy Committee of the transition team for West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James. The City of West Palm Beach is ranked the second-best city in the country for LGBTQ-friendly retirees, according to SeniorAdvice.com. The 2019 Daniel S. Hall Social Justice Awards are presented to graduating seniors Eric Burchill of Wellington High School and Kavyasree Chigurupati of A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts. MARCH 2019 Ty Penserga, an openly gay man, is elected to serve as a Boynton Beach City Commissioner. FEBRUARY 2019 The Lake Worth City Commission unanimously adopts a resolution urging state legislators from Palm Beach County to support the Florida Inclusive Workforce Act. The West Palm Beach City Commission unanimously adopts a resolution urging state legislators from Palm Beach County to support the Florida Inclusive Workforce Act.

Amicus Briefs Filed In Support of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County's Joint Petition for En Banc Rehearing of Ruling on Conversion Therapy Bans

Twenty-five cities and counties from across the nation have joined in an amicus brief filed by the City of Miami in support of the City of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County's efforts to obtain a rehearing of a ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit regarding the legality of ordinances enacted ito ban conversion therapy for minors.

The appellate panel was expected to rule only on one narrow legal issue: Whether preliminary injunctions sought by two conversion therapy practitioers were properly denied by Judge Robin Rosenberg of the U.S. District Court for the Southenn District of Florida.

The therapists sought the preliminary injunctions hoping to continue practicing conversion therapy on children pending a full trial on broader issue of whether local goverments could legally enact conversion therapy bans. 

On November 20, 2020, the panel ruled 2-1 in favor of the therapists, directing Rosenberg to issue the preliminary injunctions prohibiting Boca Raton and Palm Beach County from enforcing their ordinances. However, the panel also ruled the ordinances were unconstitutional, based on First Amendment grounds. 

"Two recently appointed appellate court judges ignored legal precedent, as well as extensive evidence that conversion therapy causes harm to LGBTQ children,” said Rand Hoch, PBCHRC's President and Founder. "As a result of this erroneous ruling, LGBTQ youth in Florida once again can be subjected to the psychological abuse caused by conversion therapy."

PBCHRC is Florida’s oldest, independent, non-partisan, political organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. Over the years, PBCHRC has been responsible for the implementation of more than 150 laws and policies providing equal protections, rights, and benefits for the LGBTQ community.

Hoch, who served as Florida’s first openly LGBTQ judge, was one of the attorneys who drafted the ordinances.

In light of the adverse ruling, PBCHRC requested the City of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County to seek a rehearing by all twelve judges on the appellate court.

On Decemebr 11, 2020, the city and county filed a Joint Petition for Rehearing, taking the position that the panel's majority opinion ignored legal precedent, overlooked or misapprehended points of law, and deprived them of the their day in court to present additional evidence. 

In support of the petition, on December 18, 2020 the City of Miami filed an amicus brief. Jurisdictions which have signed on to the amicus brief include Alachua County, Florida; Bay Harbor Islands, Florida; Boynton Beach,Florida; Broward County, Florida; Covington, Kentucky; Cudahy, Wisconsin; Cutler Bay,Florida; Delray Beach, Florida; Duluth, Minnesota; East Lansing, Michigan; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Gainesville, Florida;; Greenacres, Florida; Kent, Ohio; Lake Worth Beach, Florida; Miami Beach, Florida; North Bay Village, Florida; North Miami, Florida; Oakland Park, Florida; Pima County, Arizona; Riviera Beach, Florida; St. Louis, Missouri; St. Paul, Minnesota; South Miami, Florida; Tallahassee, Florida; West Palm Beach, Florida; and Wilton Manors, Florida;

A second amicus brief in support of the City of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County was filed by the Florida Psychological Association and the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. In addition, a third amicus brief was filed by the Trevor Project, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the American Association of Suicidology.

Palm Beach County, Boca Raton Challenge Appeals Court Ruling Overturning Conversion Therapy Bans

 By Jason Parsley, South Florida Gay News - December 11, 2020

Photo via Clerk & Comptroller, Palm Beach County's Facebook.

Boca Raton and Palm Beach County filed a petition with the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Friday asking the court to review a November ruling where a three-judge panel found their bans on conversion therapy for minors unconstitutional. 

It was uncertain if the county and city were going to challenge the ruling.

The petition is calling for an en banc review, which means all 12 judges would hear the case. The petition also states that the majority opinion overturning the bans “conflicts with circuit precedent” and its interpretation of “strict scrutiny” departs “from the U.S. Supreme Court.”

“The decision, possibly unintentionally, included language suggesting it constituted a final decision on the merits, even though the Court was merely reviewing the denial of a preliminary injunction; the Governments are entitled to their day in court to present additional evidence,” the petition reads.

According to Rand Hoch, the president of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, the judges in the majority should never have ruled on the merits in this case until a trial was held.

“Two recently appointed appellate court judges ignored legal precedent, as well as extensive evidence that conversion therapy causes harm to LGBTQ children,” said Hoch in a prepared statement. "As a result of this erroneous ruling, LGBTQ youth in Florida once again can be subjected to the psychological abuse caused by conversion therapy."

Judge Britt Grant, joined by Judge Barbara Lagoa, wrote the majority opinion. Both are appointees of President Donald Trump. Lagoa previously served on the Florida Supreme Court and Trump briefly considered her as his Supreme Court nominee to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The controversial practice known as conversion therapy has been discredited by most professional medical associations and 20 states, and more than 80 counties and municipalities in the U.S. have enacted laws prohibiting the practice on minors.

The initial challenge to the laws in Palm Beach County and Boca Raton were brought by well-known local anti-LGBT therapists Robert Otto and Julie Hamilton.

"Today's petition was filed in the hope that all 12 judges on the Eleventh Circuit will reverse the panel’s decision," said Hoch. “If the panel’s ruling is allowed to stand, all conversion therapy bans in Florida will be struck down. Moreover municipalities in Florida, Alabama and Georgia could be prohibited from enacting laws to provide protection against conversion therapy.”

---

Palm Beach County To Stengthen Equal Employment Ordinance

Palm Beach County Commission

December 8, 2020 At today's meeting, Palm Beach County Commissioners unanimously voted to amend the county's Equal Employment Ordinance by expanding protection against discrimination to job applicants and employees at small businesses throughout the county Currently, only employees working for businesses in Palm Beach County with 15 or more employees are protected from discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, genetic information, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, familial status or age. However, employees working for small businesses throughout Palm Beach County -- those with between 5 and 14 employees -- should be protected from discrimination when the law takes effect following a final vote on January 12, 2021.

"The County's Equal Employment Ordinance is poised to be one of the strongest civil rights laws in the State of Florida," said County Commissioner Gregg Weiss, who brought the amendment before the County Commission at the request of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council (PBCHRC). PBCHRC is Florida's oldest, independent, non-partisan, political organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

Over the past three decades, PBCHRC has been responsible for the implementation of more than 150 laws and policies providing equal protections, rights and benefits for the LGBTQ community. "Palm Beach County has been in the forefront of protecting workers from discrimination for the past three decades," said PBCHRC President and Founder Rand Hoch. "Today, County Commissioners took one more step to protect women and minorities from discrimination in employment."

 

West Palm Beach Again Earns Top Score in LGBTQ Equality

December 5, 2020

The City of West Palm Beach has again earned a perfect score on Human Rights Campaign Foundation Municipal Equality Index (MEI) ranking of cities across the United States. Nationally, 94 cities earned perfect scores.

The MEI examines how inclusive municipal laws, policies and services are of the LGBTQ people who live and work there. Cities are rated based on non-discrimination laws, the municipality as an employer, municipal services, law enforcement, and city leadership's public position on equality. The 2020 MEI is the ninth annual edition and rates more than 506 cities on 49 different criteria from every state in the nation.

"The perfect score demonstrates the clear-cut commitment elected officials in West Palm Beach have made to the LGBTQ community over the past 30 years," said retired judge Rand Hoch, President and Founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council (PBCHRC). The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council (PBCHRC) is Florida's oldest, independent, non-partisan, political organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. PBCHRC promotes equality through education, advocacy, direct action, impact litigation, and community outreach.  Since 1998, PBCHRC has been responsible for the enactment of more than 150 laws and policies providing equal protection, rights and benefits for Palm Beach County's LGBTQ community.

“A top score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index is an extraordinary acknowledgement of the inclusiveness of City of West Palm Beach laws, policies, and services,” said West Palm Beach Mayor Keith A. James. “Our city a great place in which for LGBTQ people to live and visit. I thank the Human Rights Campaign for this recognition, as well as the many people in our city who have helped make it possible.” Of the 20 Florida municipalities participating in the MEI, only 7 (West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Wilton Manors) scored 100 points.  Thanks to the city's leaders, West Palm Beach has long been in the forefront of LGBTQ equality in the State of Florida In 1990, city commissioners established the West Palm Beach Employment Practices Review Commission to recommend improvements to the city's personnel practices and procedures. The blue ribbon panel's final report included recommendations to improve the work environment for the city's lesbian and gay employees. Within months, those recommendations were unanimously adopted by the city commission.  The following year, West Palm Beach became the first public employer in Florida to enact an ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in public employment. In 1992, West Palm Beach became the first public employer in Florida to provide domestic partnership benefits for municipal employees City leaders recognized that while the laws and policies had been put into place to help gay and lesbian municipal employees, action also needed to be taken to address discrimination faced by the city's lesbian and gay residents. Therefore, in 1991, the City Commission voted to prohibit the use of any public facilities or any public funding to any entities which had discriminated against members of a variety of protected classes - including gays and lesbians.  In 1994, the city commission enacted the West Palm Beach Equal Opportunity Ordinance, which prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in private and public employment, housing and public accommodation. (The ordinance was amended in 2007 to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression.)  Weeks after the ordinance was enacted, the local Christian Coalition collected enough signatures to hold a special election to repeal the ordinance. However, then-Mayor Nancy Graham stepped forward to lead the "'No on 1!" campaign to ensure that the newly enacted gay rights law remained on the books. After a bitter and divisive campaign, West Palm Beach voters soundly defeated the repeal effort 56% to 44%. This historic effort marked the first time that Florida voters defeated an anti-gay referendum. Since marriage equality was slow in coming to Florida, during the period when same-sex marriage was prohibited, elected offricials in West Palm Beach repeatedly championed laws and policies to ensure that gay and lesbian municipal employees with domestic partners received the same benefits and take home pay as married opposite employees were entitled to receive. Even when faced with federal laws that denied workers with domestic partners benefits granted to married employees, city officials found their way to provide them for city employees. The City Commission extended equal health insurance continuation coverage (COBRA) and Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) benefits to city employees with domestic partners. They also provided federal tax equity reimbursements for employees insuring their domestic partners, since married employees were exempt from that taxation under federal law. In 2015, the city commissioners updated the Equal Opportunity Ordinance by expanding the definition of "public accommodations" to prohibit consumer discrimination (e.g., "shopping while black"). The law also prohibits businesses in the wedding industry from discriminating against lesbian and gay couples.  In 2016, City Commissioners also enacted the West Palm Beach Equal Benefits Ordinance, which required contractors doing business with the city to provide identical benefits to both married employees and employees with domestic partners.   Later that year, the City updated its health care plans to include trans care benefits to municipal employees. Before year's end, West Palm Beach became the first city in Palm Beach County to prohibit the discredited practice of conversion therapy for minors.  Conversion therapy encompasses a range of discredited counseling practices by which health care providers or counselors seek to change a person's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression through aversion treatment.    In 2018, West Palm Beach adopted an LGBTQ-inclusive resolution affirming its commitment to address and eliminate bullying at city facilities and in city programs.  Earlier this year, to address the concerns of transgender and gender-nonconforming residents, Mayor Keith James directed city staff to install new signage by year's end designating all single-stall restrooms in municipal buildings as "all-gender"   When presented with opportunities to amend the state's civil rights laws to protect LGBTQ people, Florida Legislators have repeatedly refused to do so. In contrast, 22 states (and the District of Columbia) protect their residents from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation. Nineteen of these states (and the District of Columbia) also provide similar protections on the basis of their gender identity.  "Since the Florida Legislature has repeatedly refused to enact LGBTQ-inclusive civil rights laws, it is imperative that municipal and county leaders throughout our state work diligently to enact local laws and policies providing LGBTQ Floridians with equal protections and benefits," said Hoch. "All LGBTQ Floridians, regardless of where they live or work, should be protected from discrimination and harassment." To view the 2020 MEI Scorecard for West Palm Beach, click here.