"If you truly want to be 'one Winter Garden,' then Pride Month is something you must include and not use neutrality as an excuse to hide behind.”
LGBTQ community members and allies Thursday converged on Winter Garden’s city commission meeting to lambaste the mayor, commissioners and other officials for the city’s refusal to outwardly support its LGBTQ citizens.
Nearly 20 demonstrators of all ages, from high-school graduates to senior citizens, many wearing T-shirts emblazoned with Pride flags, rainbows and slogans like “I will say gay and support trans kids” attended the demonstration. Some held flyers that read “Winter Garden Celebrates Pride.” Many Plant Street businesses are displaying the same flyers in their windows.
The mayor, commissioners and city manager appeared largely unmoved. Mayor John Rees did respond to a suggestion that he does not read constituent email, saying “I don’t think that's what I said.” [Editor's Note: The mayor's original comment was that he doesn't read email from VoxPopuli.]
The demonstration was organized by Joseph Richardson, a longtime Winter Garden resident and VoxPopuli board member, to coincide with the first anniversary of the city’s passing its DEI resolution.
DEI typically refers to diversity, equity and inclusion. In the Winter Garden resolution, however, the E stands for “equality” instead of “equity” — a change born out of right-wing paranoia that “equity” is a communist dog whistle. Richardson had initially requested the city put out a statement or resolution “that would affirm this city’s recognition of our LGBTQ population as full citizens” in response to the genuine fear and uncertainty instilled by the Parental Rights in Education Act (called “Don’t Say Gay” by critics). The law initially banned discussions of sexual oriental and gender identity through Grade 3 and was extended this year to all grades.
“Whether one is for or against this bill, I hope that an acceptance of our LGBTQ citizens is shared by the leaders of this city,” Richardson said at the time.
In prepared remarks Thursday, Richardson, clad in a black T-shirt boasting a Pride flag, berated city leaders for their ongoing refusal to show support for LGBTQ residents in the face of escalating legislative attacks from Tallahassee, a state of emergency issued by the Human Rights Campaign and a hate speech incident involving a local restaurant's beer promotion. [Federal judges recently struck down Florida's ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming care and blocked the bans on minors receiving gender-affirming care and attending drag performances.]
“The suggestion was that if the city makes a proclamation about Pride Month, that opens the door to providing proclamations for all groups no matter how extreme. This is simply not true. This is equivocation pure and simple. And the attorney and city manager should know better.”
Richardson, noted Ocoee’s Facebook post about the anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting, Oviedo’s Pride Month declaration and comments by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer in his State of the City speech last month. The Hartford Courant reported that when speaking about the city's October Come Out With Pride Festival, Dyer, who's been photographed wearing a "Protect trans kids" T-shirt, said, “Right now it’s more important than ever to make it known that Orlando will always be a city that prioritizes compassion and inclusion, a community that encourages everyone to be their authentic selves.”
“None of them are obligated to post about white supremacy or pass laudatory proclamations about the Proud Boys or give a speech praising Nazis,” Richardson said. “This rationale, with vocal agreements from the mayor and Commissioner Bennett, is nothing more than cover for homophobia and transphobia.”
Richardson also pointed to the city’s sponsorship and support for Juneteenth, held this year at Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church in East Winter Garden, and Light Up Winter Garden held on the steps of City Hall.
“Bible passages were read, Christian hymns were sung and Christian prayers were offered,” he said.
“As a body that is supposed to work for all Winter Garden residents, you do not get to support and sponsor and promote Black issues and Christian issues and then demure from LGBTQ issues. If you truly want to be 'one Winter Garden,' then Pride Month is something you must include and not use neutrality as an excuse to hide behind.”
David Williamson, an Oviedo resident, wished the commission a hearty “Happy Pride Month!” when it was his turn at the podium. He wore a rainbow ribbon pinned to the lapel of his blue blazer.
Williamson shared that the mayor of Oviedo mayor made a similar argument to Winter Garden’s for not singling out groups for proclamations — that doing so would open the door for hate groups to demand equal treatment.
“While I don’t believe that’s the reason, let’s assume this slippery slope argument is more than just a fallacy trotted out when no good arguments remain,” Williamson said.
“Let’s say someone asks to proclaim Straight Pride Month,” he continued. “If that were to happen, you’d have a choice. One option lands you in the national news, again. The other most assuredly does not. You can say Yes to the request, and you’ll definitely make the news because as far as I know it’s never happened anywhere, not even in Florida. And when the media shows up, they won’t care about your bold stance for equality, they’ll just ask you why you didn’t just say No.”
Williamson added, “When you fail to lead and to show bravery and support to those needing it most and instead set examples of ignorance or just apathy, then you tell constituents that’s how they have to behave too.”
Williamson asked the leaders on the dais to consider how they wanted Winter Garden to be featured in the news. "What should it look like to outsiders thinking about investing or moving here? What do you want this city that you serve and love to feel like to your LGBTQ+ constituents and families and their friends?
“Someone needs to step up and lead this city in the right direction, and others may need to just get out of the way,” he finished.
Oviedo now has both a Proclamation of Dignity Month (May) signed solely by Mayor Megan Sladek and a Declaration of Pride Month (June) signed by the city’s deputy mayor and the remaining three members of the city council. “The other members wanted it and she did not. The declaration was the compromise,” Williamson later told VoxPopuli in a text message.
Doug Zang, a former Winter Garden resident now living in Orlando, told officials they “could speak out against injustice if you really want to,” and urged commissioners to “lead by example in all of your dealings.”
Wearing a T-shirt with “Straight but not narrow” in large rainbow letters across his chest, Zang said, “The city needs to know that the LGBTQ community exists, they have a voice, they are here to stay. Driving over here I noticed a transgender flag just several blocks away from here.”
As a body that is supposed to work for all Winter Garden residents, you do not get to support and sponsor and promote Black issues and Christian issues and then demure from LGBTQ issues.
Even so, he said he knows people who don’t want to come to Winter Garden because they don’t feel comfortable. “I’m troubled that a local business came out with a transphobic promotion. Trust me, even though I live on the east side of Orlando now, I’m very aware of this story. Folks all over the region have commented on this ugly stain on the reputation of this beautiful community.”
Zang reminded city leaders that in crafting Winter Garden’s DEI resolution, the statement had not done what Richardson had originally wanted it to do.
“The resolution did not mention the LGBTQ community,” he said. “Between weak language — which was weakened further by Commissioner Bennett who changed equity to equality — this was interpreted by many as the city keeping its distance from full acceptance of its LGBTQ citizens. Furthermore, although the resolution was passed during Pride Month, the city manager called the timing ‘coincidental,’ pushing the city even further away from that issue.”
At the end of the meeting, Commissioner Ron Mueller, who represents District 2, addressed demonstrators and said, “Your words are heard and your importance to this community is well known and well-established."
But he acknowledged that despite the "one Winter Garden" sloganeering, "as some of you have demonstrated today, we don’t walk the walk or talk the talk the way that we should ... I am sorry that we could not do a proclamation. Since 2018, there have been 65 of those — eight for people’s birthdays. I don’t know why that was a challenge. But that’s water under the bridge. I’ll simply say you are welcome here. You are loved, and you are important. And it doesn’t matter who you are, I always want you to come into the city of Winter Garden knowing that this is a place of respect and love.”
Mayor Rees, who said that he “was born and raised in Winter Garden” and that his wife tells him he “sees the world through rose-colored glasses,” added a comment before adjourning the meeting.
“We try to treat people the same, and I just don’t see the hate and ugliness regardless of who is walking down the street," he said. "I hope we stay that way. We just have to learn to love one another and, yes, we are all different.”
