South Florida Gay-Rights Milestone Hailed

BY AMY DRISCOLL
adriscoll@herald.com

Twenty-five years after he filed suit against Miami-Dade County's first anti-discrimination ordinance for gay men and lesbians, Ellis Rubin -- who is unapologetic about many things -- wants to say he's sorry.

Back in 1977, a brash, younger Rubin went to court to fight the fledgling county law. He failed to derail it, but his courtroom fight helped fuel national headlines with Anita Bryant leading the charge against gay rights.

``I was wrong,'' Rubin now says. ``Over the years I have learned that the grounds I was asserting were wrong and inadequate. I have changed my mind in that regard. It was wrong. It was out of line.

``To each his own. I have seen the light, and I would like to apologize,'' Rubin says.

Though Rubin lost in court, others took up the cause and voters soundly rejected the ordinance in a referendum just a few months later. The defeat set off a landmark battle widely considered a mobilizing force for the national gay rights movement. It would be more than two decades before another, similar ordinance would again win passage in Miami-Dade.

As community leaders assemble today to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the ordinance's original passage, Rubin's change of heart offers some measure of change in the county since 1977.

Protection of gay men and lesbians from discrimination continues to be a hotly debated issue in Miami-Dade. In September, unless legal challenges succeed, voters will be asked again to decide if they back the current amendment. The referendum was forced onto the ballot by a petition drive organized by a group called Take Back Miami-Dade.

But one who believes the county has made strides is former county Commissioner Ruth Shack, who sponsored the ordinance and fought fiercely for it amid threats that her political career would end if she persisted.

``It's very heartening that we have allies in the field of antidiscrimination that we didn't have 25 years ago,'' said Shack, now the president of the Dade Community Foundation. ``I'm convinced we have made tremendous progress.''

But she acknowledges the fight continues, a few steps forward, a few steps back.

``There are still people who don't understand the issue and never will. I'm never surprised by the amount of ignorance out there,'' she said.

The pivotal hearing took place on a cold January day in 1977. Inside the commission chambers, emotions ran hot. Opponents held signs: ``God Says No. Who Are You to Be Different?'' The audience booed and hissed as people spoke on both sides of a subject long considered taboo: homosexuality.

Bob Kunst, a gay activist who spoke at the hearing, said the commission's actions set in motion a social force that continues today. ``This was a turning point in our whole movement,'' he said. ``We made `gay' a household word.''

BITTER PROCEEDINGS

A transcript of the hearing offers a taste of the bitterness that pervaded the proceedings. Baseball coach Alvin Dark, a Hialeah born-again Christian, called homosexuality ``a sin in the eyes of God.''

Orange juice pitchwoman Bryant, who would continue her crusade for years, testified against the ordinance, too:

``As an entertainer, I have worked with homosexuals all my life, and my attitude has been live and let live.'' But, she added, ``Now I believe it is time to realize the rights of the overwhelming number of Dade County constituents.''

At the end, a 5-3 vote clinched it. The ordinance passed.

The decision wouldn't last the year. By June, voters had defeated it by more than 2-1. Gay activists would spend the next 21 years working toward passage of similar legal protection.

Bruce Winick, University of Miami law professor and legal strategist for the ordinance, remembered the hearing:

``It was a very heated moment in history. . . . In the long run I think we set in motion some forces 25 years ago that have carried the day -- maybe not completely, but it was a very, very important effort.''

UM's law school, along with Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas and the county's Community Relations Board, will hold a forum today from 10 a.m. to noon in County Commission chambers.

The panel of speakers will include Winick, Shack, Fred Fejes, a Florida Atlantic University professor who is writing a book chronicling the effort, and Jorge Mursuli, former chairman of SAVE Dade who led the successful effort to enact a similar ordinance in 1998.

``What happened in 1977 put Dade County on center stage, nationally and worldwide, on the issue of gay rights,'' Winick said. ``It's worthy of being celebrated for that reason and because it was an important chapter in human rights.''

Some argue that little progress has been made. The 1998 human rights ordinance, which protects gays and lesbians from discrimination in housing and employment in Miami-Dade, passed in a cliff-hanger, 7-6 vote.

And, in another echo of 1977, it is being challenged. Opponents collected signatures to place a referendum before voters. It is scheduled to be on the ballot in the September primary.

Eladio José Armesto, communications director for Take Back Miami-Dade, which opposes the amendment, said he remains unconvinced that special protections are needed.

NOT NEEDED

``I have never seen homosexual persons marching down the streets in Miami because their rights have been violated. You don't see long lines of homosexuals who are out of work because they've been discriminated against,'' he said. ``No one has ever demonstrated the need for this amendment.''

If the arguments sound similar to those voiced more than two decades ago, that doesn't surprise Heddy Peña, chairwoman of SAVE Dade.

``For me, personally, it is frustrating to be fighting the same fight, the fact that we haven't been able to get past the basic idea of protecting our fellow citizens from discrimination,'' she said.