On May 9, The Harvey Milk Foundation and The Pride Center at Equality Park are presenting the first annual Diversity Honors gala at the Seminole Hardrock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
One of the honorees will be Rand Hoch, founder of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council and Florida’s first openly gay judge. Since 1988, Hoch has been instrumental in getting dozens of different laws and policies passed having to do with extending legal benefits and protections to LGBT Floridians, both in and outside of his own county.
He also makes it a point to stand up for career public servants, such as former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nan Rich and Hillsborough County’s circuit court clerk Pat Frank, who’s currently facing a challenge by LGBT Commissioner Kevin Beckner, despite Frank’s record of supporting LGBT rights for more than 28 years. She received the council’s first political endorsement, Hoch said. He credits her for standing up for LGBT rights at a time when other politicians like Sen. Bill Nelson (who has since come around) would not.
Recently, Hoch has been critical of what many consider to be one of, if not, the most powerful LGBT rights organization in the state, Equality Florida. As an outsider, you would be hard pressed to find another statewide group that’s been more active in bringing local, state and national attention to issues impacting LGBT lives. Equality Florida founders Nadine Smith and Stratton Pollitzer are giants within the community and have been since at least 1997.
In fact, Equality Florida led the charge against two measures that made headlines across the country when they were introduced during the last legislative session, a so-called transgender bathroom bill and another religious rights bill that would have enabled private adoption agencies to turn away would-be LGBT parents. Thankfully, both bills died when the legislative session ended prematurely this year.
But what is most disturbing is that these bills were actually introduced in the first place, came up for discussion before key committees and actually got voted on and or passed by one or both chambers. As a result, it’s pretty obvious that Tallahassee remains far removed from where polls show most Floridians stand on the proper treatment of its highly productive LGBT residents, despite the fact that a third bill that would remove a ban on gay adoption from state law is waiting for the governor’s signature.
So what exactly does Hoch have to complain about? For him, the problem revolves around a loss of control of his own borders so to speak. He points to last February when Equality Florida endorsed a different set of West Palm Beach candidates than the ones his council endorsed.
“We don’t appreciate outsiders getting involved in our races,” said Hoch, explaining that West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio and Commissioner Keith James were able to win reelection but that backing their challengers was the final straw that broke the camel’s back for Hoch.
“I guess she (the mayor) didn’t send in her cereal box tops,” said Hoch, referring to speculation as to why Equality Florida decided to back different candidates in their voter election guide. “There’s no reason for Equality Florida to get involved. We have it under control here. They don’t add anything. They only subtract. We actually meet local candidates and work with them. There are 66 other counties, some with no infrastructure. Focus there. Stay out of Palm Beach County. Keep out of our elections. I could live with that.”
Relations between Hoch and Equality Florida were not always acrimonious. In fact, Hoch has received recognition from Equality Florida and at one time was one of the group’s major donors. Reportedly, things began to change, however, in 2004 and then again in 2006, when Equality Florida began endorsing candidates in Palm Beach County and more specifically, did not back local Democratic Rep. Mark Pafford. Differences boiled over further around 2008 when Hoch and Equality Florida couldn’t agree on tactics for including new language on gender identity and expression on bicameral legislation meant to amend the Florida Civil Rights Act and Florida’s Fair Housing Act.
But now is the time to bury the hatchet if at all possible. Hoch and Equality Florida have more in common than they think, given what’s happened — or what almost happened — this year in Tallahassee. The diverse LGBT community in Florida will never speak with one voice. That’s a given. But other states and organizations might offer possible solutions to help ease the tension. Colorado, New England, Lambda Legal and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders come to mind.
Even Hoch admits “their hearts are in the right place. They just need to keep that place out of Palm Beach County.”
