I was disappointed to see that Johnathan Lott's column reverted to the same arguments that proponents of Charter Amendment 1 have been using to scare people into supporting discrimination.
His economic argument is flimsy in light of the Chamber of Commerce and North Central Florida Labor Council's opposition to Charter Amendment 1.
Furthermore the amendment is opposed by the entire City Commission, the Mayor and even our own Student and Faculty Governments because they understand that Charter Amendment 1 is really about discrimination. The suggestion that this bill is not about sexual identity/orientation is categorically false.
It seems Lott is the one who has not read the proposed Charter Amendment 1. A spokesman for the organization who proposed the Charter Amendment, the deceptively named "Citizens for Good Public Policy," admitted in this paper on Wednesday that the proposed Charter Amendment 1 takes away anti-discrimination protections from lesbian, gay and bisexual people - I believe he referred to this reality as "collateral damage."
Are the members of this community really OK with dismissing someone's rights as "collateral damage"? I certainly hope not.
Let's show these citizens there is no place for discrimination in Gainesville.
