Human Rights Council celebrates 15 years

Rainbow doggy T-shirts, free condoms, speeches by several well-known activists and politicians and poster after poster all were in tribute Saturday night to the 15 years of work by the Human Rights Council of North Central Florida.

"This is a time where we get to share the accomplishments of the Gainesville community with the Gainesville community," said Susan Eichner, president of the human rights council, during Saturday's "Celebration of 15 Years of Service" at the Pride Community Center.

The event featured plenty of laughter, seriousness and Barack Obama supporters. The attire: either semi-formal or Obama T-shirts and pins.

Democrats such as Karen Thurman, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, came out to celebrate the HRC's successes and voice appreciation for its struggles.

Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan spoke to the crowd, jokingly saying that she was only half a Hillary Clinton supporter in the primaries but is now a full Obama supporter.

The human rights council got started in 1993 when local residents banded together after conflicts with the Ku Klux Klan and when rights advocates in Alachua County voiced outrage that gays, women and other groups were not being included in the anti-discrimination laws.

Russ Roy, who is married to School Board member Eileen Roy, said when he was running for School Board, he was asked what he thought of homosexuals being teachers.

"Some of our best teachers are gay," Roy said.

"It's a really good thing that people are doing in this group and it is to make this a better community," he said.

Supporters of the rights council on Saturday celebrated the inclusion of transgender citizens in Gainesville anti-discrimination laws.

But Hanrahan said she was disheartened at the same time.

On July 4, she said, people were trying to get a petition signed to repeal the anti-discrimination law protecting transgender people.

On a day where people are supposed to be celebrating freedom, those petitions were sadly ironic, she said.

"Do unto others, for God's sake," Hanrahan said.