Susan Stanton - Largo Human Rights Debate

Largo Human Rights Debate

In 2003, a contentious debate took place in Largo over a proposed human rights ordinance that would prohibit discrimination in the municipality based on race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation. More than 100 people packed a five-hour public hearing on the proposed ordinance at Largo's City Hall on August 5, 2003, hearing testimony from over 40 people on both sides of the question. Had the ordinance passed, it would have made Largo the 64th municipality in the United States to extend equal rights protection to transgender people through the inclusion of gender identity. However, the proposed ordinance failed by a 4 to 3 vote of the City Commission, leaving both gender identity and sexual orientation as permissible reasons for Largo residents to be discriminated against in employment, housing, and public accommodations.

City workers did, however, receive protection three months later on October 7, 2003, when the City Commission unanimously approved the Discrimination and Harassment Prohibition policy, an internal antidiscrimination policy, that applied to all city employees. In contrast with the city-wide August debate, not even one individual opposing the internal policy attended the commission meeting.

The city employee policy prohibited discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, religion, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression. The policy applied to city employees and prohibited discriminatory conduct both in the workplace and in any work-related setting, such as during business trips. The policy included definitions of harassment and retaliation, and explained that sexual harassment could involve individuals of the same or different gender. Extensive training for all city employees was set to take place in November and December 2003, under Stanton's direction in her role as city manager. The policy was passed partly in reaction to two incidents in which a fire department lieutenant and a police officer made racial slurs.