In a quietly tense debate, opposing groups weighed in on Gainesville's controversial Charter Amendment 1 Wednesday evening.
About 120 people attended the debate, which was hosted by Alachua County Emerging Leaders at the Best Western Gateway Grand.
If passed, the amendment would nullify the Gender Identity Ordinance passed by Gainesville's City Commission in early 2008, which currently extends anti-discrimination rights to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents.
Gainesville law would then revert to the Florida Civil Rights Act, which contains no provisions for those groups.
Two speakers representing Citizens for Good Public Policy, Mark Minck and Ed Braddy, argued in favor of the amendment. The group formed soon after the ordinance passed last year. They wish to see it overturned, claiming that it is too vaguely worded and puts some citizens at risk.
Opposing the amendment were two representatives from Equality is Gainesville's Business, City Commissioner Craig Lowe and Shelbi Day.
The debate focused on the social and economic implications the amendment would have on the city if passed.
The pro-amendment group claimed the ordinance was unnecessary, citing a lack of reported incidents of discrimination against transgender people.
Lowe argued that if Gainesville were to overturn the ordinance, businesses would be discouraged from settling here, as Apple was in Round Rock, Tex. when the city passed similar legislation.
Day argued that UF, the city's largest employer, took a strict stance against the amendment, claiming it would make it harder to recruit students and professors.
In the end, the opposition accused the amendment's proponents of using scare tactics like the issue of sexual predators in women's bathrooms to misinform the public as to the amendment's discriminatory effects.
The pro-amendment group insisted that Gainesville's citizens don't want discrimination protections in the City Charter and shouldn't have to accept legislation they find questionable.
