Cape Coral wrests with equality rating
A low ranking by a national advocacy group has Cape Coral officials divided over whether the city needs to do a better job of assuring LGBTQ equality.
The Human Rights Campaign gave the city a rating of 25 out of a possible 100 in its nationwide survey of more than 500 municipalities. Cape Coral was the only city in Southwest Florida surveyed.
At the urging of Mayor Marni Sawicki, City Manager John Szerlag is now looking into the survey to identify areas where Cape Coral can improve the quality of life for its LGBTQ population.
Sawicki, who sits on the Southwest Florida Community Foundation’s LGBT steering committee was disappointed with the city’s rating as being the “worst city” in Florida.
“I think it is important that our city is more inclusive,” Sawicki said during Monday’s City Council meeting.
Not all on council agreed there is the type of problem the survey seemed to indicate nor did they agree the matter needed to be bumped to the top of the city’s priority list.
“I don’t have an issue with the city manager reviewing the report, but on the list of priorities it should be way down the list,” said Councilmember Jim Burch.
Councilmember Richard Leon agreed, saying, “I don’t think we should do anything with it. I don’t think the report provides enough information. I have never seen or heard of there being a problem from any of my gay friends. It’s not a high priority thing to me.”
Sawicki has been focusing on the issue since 2014. She made several suggestions back then to the city manager and fellow council members about ways to improve the city’s HRC score. Those suggestions include non-discriminatory ordinance language for personnel; anti-bullying policies at the charter schools; requiring city contractors to have inclusive policies; and city-provided services to vulnerable populations of the LGBTQ community. Just last year, the city created a domestic partner registry, another of the mayor’s suggestions.
Leon alluded to the HRC selecting only a few cities in Florida to survey. Had more cities in the area been surveyed, Cape Coral would have rated higher, he said.
Councilmember Jessica Cosden has been working on two ordinances dealing with discrimination in recent months. With everything else in the queue, she planned to bring them before council early in 2017.
“I have two ordinances that are drafted and ready,” Cosden said. “I will get with the city attorney to make sure everything is set and get them on the agenda sooner.”
One ordinance deals with sexual orientation or gender protections among city employees while the other would ban discrimination in employment or housing and lending transactions.
Szerlag said he would meet with staff and review the HRC study to find areas where the city can improve and report back to council.