A.G. Gancarski
In yet another piece of news coming out of a Tuesday morning media availability involving Jacksonville sporting events, JAXSPORTS Council head Rick Catlett addressed a question regarding LGBT rights in the Northeast Florida city and recruitment of sports events being relocated from North Carolina in the wake of its statewide anti-LGBT “bathroom bill” legislation.
Long story short: Catlett doesn’t see a problem where Jacksonville is concerned.
And, more worryingly, he doesn’t seem to understand the context of concerns among many that Jacksonville’s lack of codified citywide legal protections for the LGBT community is a potential impediment.
“We moved up in our ratings because of HRO,” Catlett said, conflating facts in a reference to the latest Human Rights Campaign report that had Jacksonville at a 49 out of 100 on its Municipal Equality Index.
Actually, though, the Human Rights Ordinance (which has not been expanded to include LGBT people) wasn’t what moved Jacksonville up in its MEI rating.
“Most of the new points awarded to Jacksonville are due to actions Mayor Lenny Curry took this year. In March 2016, Mayor Curry issued a departmental directive which protected city employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression. Additionally, he directed that all companies that contract with the City of Jacksonville provide the same level of protection to their LGBT employees. The mayor’s action led to an increase of 18 points on the MEI score,” wrote the Jacksonville Coalition for Equality earlier this month.
Catlett contends the HRO, or lack thereof, has not been a discussion point in negotiations with the NCAA or conferences to bring games to Jacksonville from North Carolina.
“Unfortunately,” Catlett said, “for Carolina, there’s an issue.”
With expectations brimming for the Jacksonville City Council to consider again expanding the HRO.
