A.G. Gancarski
The Jacksonville Human Rights Ordinance expansion is on hold, yet education efforts continue from local LGBT activists at the Jacksonville Coalition for Equality. Of late, efforts have been concentrated toward targeting African-American supporters, as evidenced by a full-page ad in the Florida Star with clergy endorsing HRO expansion, and now by educational events scheduled in predominantly African-American neighborhoods.
The latest, in the form of We Are Straight Allies initiatives, is designed to “reaffirm those who currently support fundamental human rights for all citizens and to further engage those who are ambivalent, or who are uninformed about the real challenges that face members of the LGBT community.”
To that end, two April workshops are scheduled … and the second one features Councilman Reggie Gaffney.
The first, starting at 5:30 on April 6, is at the Legends Community Center on Soutel. The second, on April 14, is at Gaffney’s Community Rehabilitation Center, which was recently subpoenaed as part of a larger dragnet related to Corrine Brown investigations.
Years before that, the CRC was investigated for overbilling Medicaid. The original claim was well over $2 million was at issue. A $336,000 settlement was agreed to by the Feds.
However, the Medicaid issue recurred in Gaffney’s Council campaign.
In a truncated debate that ended with Gaffney praying to remove Satan from the room, Gaffney’s opponent, George Spencer, asked the crowd to “judge me by my fruit. Look at our past. What have we demonstrated? Have we overbilled? Have we stated things that weren’t true?”
Spencer won the debate. But Gaffney won the election.
