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Diversity pledge draws criticism

An attorney claims the city's proposed mission statement endorses behavior some consider "immoral."

By SHANNON TAN
Published January 19, 2005

LARGO - City commissioners were simply voting on changing a date.

But the item at hand was too controversial.

Commissioners were setting a date to finalize the city's internal mission, vision and values statement. And one of the values was diversity.

R. Bruce McManus, a Largo attorney, objected.

Largo is endorsing activities some people think of as "immoral" or "biblically perverse," he said.

The proposed statement asks city employees to value "differences in race, age, ethnicity, physical ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, family status, religion and life experience."

"You are not just acknowledging that there are acceptable homosexual, bisexual and other combinations of sexually deviant activity, but are approving these behaviors," McManus wrote last month in a letter to Mayor Bob Jackson.

McManus, who supports commission candidate Mary Black, hopes that the values statement will be an issue in the upcoming March 1 election. In 2003, he lobbied against a citywide human rights ordinance that prohibited discrimination against people based on race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity and sexual orientation.

Vice Mayor Pat Gerard thought the issue was being blown out of proportion. And Commissioner Gay Gentry decided to reiterate what she said the night the ordinance was defeated by a 4-3 vote.

"In August of 2003, I tried to point out that our attempts at diversity had to do with the U.S. Constitution," she said. "Obviously I didn't get anything across at that time."

Officials are saying that they would like city employees to be good Samaritans, Gentry said, reading from a prepared statement. "That term has come to mean any stranger who performs an act of kindness."

The parable that Jesus told in response to the question, "Who is my neighbor?" told of a man who stopped to help the victim of a crime. The helper was a Samaritan, who was despised by Jews at the time.

"A neighbor is not defined as someone who shares your morals, economic status or beliefs," Gentry said. "A neighbor is someone who you despise and yet act neighborly."

While she might not agree with the person next to her, Gentry said she would act neighborly.

She also said the greatest threat to society was not homosexuality, but divorce and the failure to provide stable homes for children.

To be a successful employee with the city of Largo, Gentry said, "You need to show up for work everyday, you need to follow the rules and you need to do the best work you can do and you need to be neighborly."

Several commissioners and audience members applauded.

The Largo executive staff met for 16 hours in July 2004 to develop a new mission statement for the city. Commissioners then discussed the statement at a retreat in November before voting to submit it to city employees for their comments. The other proposed values include integrity, professionalism, teamwork, respect, passion, empathy, creativity and pride.

"The policy statement does not support or adopt a particular behavior or activity, but rather allows all employees the right to work in a nonviolent and nondiscriminatory atmosphere," Jackson wrote in a letter to McManus. "It does not suggest an employee should adopt any particular lifestyle or change their own moral beliefs, but rather calls for tolerance of other behaviors."

Jackson voted against the proposed statement because he wanted to add language about the city's spending habits.

The city's staff will provide feedback on the statement, and any changes will be brought before the commission before the final vote April 5.

Shannon Tan can be reached at shtan@sptimes.com or 445-4174.

[Last modified January 19, 2005, 00:33:17]