A host of problems at the polls in Florida Sept. 10 overshadowed the highest-profile gay ballot initiative in this election year, as voters in Miami-Dade County defeated Question 14, a proposal to repeal anti-discrimination protection for gays and lesbians.
Twenty-five years after singer Anita Bryant led a successful effort to repeal a gay-rights ordinance in Miami-Dade, voters in Florida's largest county have rejected a similar repeal effort. With virtually all Miami-Dade precincts counted, the vote on repeal was: Yes 47% ( 130,795 ) , and No 53% ( 147,463 ) .
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, LLEGO ( the national Latino/a LGBT group ) , Human Rights Campaign, People for the American Way and other national groups partnered with local activists in the effort to stop the repeal. LLEGO had threatened to pull their national conference from Miami, scheduled for next month, if the anti-gay forces won.
Miami-Dade's human-rights ordinance provides anti-discrimination protection in housing, employment and public accommodations for people based on race, color, religion, national origin, disability and several other factors.
In 1998, the Miami-Dade County Commission voted to add sexual orientation to this ordinance, a decision that the Christian Coalition and its anti-gay allies had hoped to repeal through Question 14.
More Gay Election Victories
David N. Cicilline won a four-way Democratic primary in Providence, Rhode Island, Sept. 10, becoming the odds-on favorite to be elected mayor of that heavily Democratic city.
Providence would be the largest American city to be led by an openly gay or lesbian elected official.
Polls had shown the 41-year-old state representative to be a competitive candidate. The surprise was his convincing 53% victory. His nearest competitor was Joseph O. Paolino, a former mayor of the city, with only 33% of the vote.
Cicilline campaigned on the theme of change, an antidote to Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci the colorful long-serving mayor of
