SwiftVets.com

[SBD]

Copyright 1998 The Tribune Co. Publishes The Tampa Tribune Tampa Tribune (Florida)

October 10, 1998, Saturday, FINAL EDITION

Meeting to help people address ethical issues;
LYNN PORTER, of The Tampa Tribune;

LARGO -- A town hall meeting Friday will focus on the ethical issues regarding terminally ill people. The ethics of assisted suicide and removal of life support for terminally ill people are two of the topics that will be discussed at a "town hall" meeting Friday. Issues of pain management and withdrawal of nutrition and fluids for terminally ill people also will be discussed.

The meeting at The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast's main service center is designed to provide an ethical framework to assist people in considering end--of--life issues, according to Tim Arsenault, hospice regional program director. "The purpose of this is not to lay out right or wrong answers but to provide a forum to discuss these kinds of things that are in the public's imagination," Arsenault said.

The meeting will be held at the Hospice, 300 East Bay Drive, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. The public is invited. Arsenault said he hopes the meeting will "stimulate conversation about these four areas that have captured the public's imagination."

Panelists are George Felos, a Dunedin lawyer and Hospice board chairman;William Moore, Hospice medical services quality review physician; the Rev. Mark Peterson, who works with Bay Care Health Systems; and Sandra B. Sunter, Hospice regional program director.

Arsenault said issues that may be discussed are: "Does one have the right to take one's own life when they determine their life is intolerable?; the right to adequate pain medication and to information about its side effects; the ethics of providing or not "extraordinary" intervention at the end of life, such as a ventilator; and the ethics of removing feeding tubes or discontinuing fluids in terminal illness cases.

The important thing is that people make free and informed choices that are in the best interests of patients and their families, Arsenault said.
The meeting is part of a series begun by a coalition of "end of life" providers, Arsenault said.

For more information, call 586--4432, ext. 2864. Lynn Porter covers Pinellas County. She may be reached at (727)



St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
January 30, 2000, Sunday, 0 South Pinellas Edition
A family divided
ANITA KUMAR

As a judge weighs whether a woman in a coma should be kept alive, her family feuds over money and her final wishes. It was Valentine's Day 1993, and Michael Schiavo planned on an evening of dinner and dancing with his in--laws. They had grown close after Michael married Bob and Mary Schindler's oldest daughter, Terri. A testament to their friendship, their bond had continued to strengthen even after Terri inexplicably collapsed three years earlier.

The Schindlers and Michael Schiavo continued to share a home in St. Petersburg after they moved Terri -- left in a vegetative state from brain damage -- into a nursing home. Mary Schindler had grown to love Michael like a son. But the holiday festivities never happened. There was a fight that day in Mrs. Schiavo's room between her father and husband caused a rift in the family that has lasted seven years.

Michael wanted to stop treating his wife by artificial means, ensuring she would die in a matter of weeks. The Schindlers wanted her kept alive, in the hope she might one day get better. Doctors say that would take a miracle. For years, both sides have insisted they were trying to carry out Mrs. Schiavo's wishes. But each says the other only wants to control her fate to get their hands on $700,000 she received in 1993 from a malpractice suit. The feud that developed was in evidence this week, a decade after the heart attack that led to the brain damage. Anger and accusation dominated a weeklong trial at which a Pinellas judge considered Michael Schiavo's request to remove his wife's feeding tube. These once private families found themselves battling each other in the glare of the national media, in People magazine and on NBC's Dateline.

The judge promised Friday to reach a decision in two weeks. But prospects for healing remain unlikely. In separate interviews after the trial, both the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo indicated they would appeal an unfavorable decision. "I won't let my daughter die," Mrs. Schindler said. "Honestly and truthfully, it's never entered my mind." But Schiavo, who still visits his wife twice a week although engaged to another woman, says he has no plans to divorce her and let her parents take over her medical care. "It's an awful thing to see someone you love live like that," he said. "The Schindlers had 10 years, and I'm sorry they couldn't come to terms with it. . . . But I have the right to make those decisions for her."

Transformation for Terri
Terri Schiavo's appearance haunted her most of her young life. She was heavy as a child, with curly brown hair framing her face and glasses resting on her nose. She was happy growing up, her family says, but always bothered by her weight. Optimistic and giggly but insecure, she had a few close friends but never had a boyfriend or even really dated. Then she signed up with Nutri/System in her senior year of high school outside Philadelphia and started to lose weight. When the pounds melted away, her self--esteem grew.
The transformation did not go unnoticed. She started drawing men's attention, something she wasn't used to, said her brother Bob Schindler Jr. One of those men was Michael Schiavo. They met at a community college in Philadelphia, and after a year together,
they were married one November day before 200 guests.

The Schindlers said they thought their 20--year--old daughter was too young to marry, but knew the couple loved each
other, and so embraced Michael. After her marriage, Terri's transformation continued. She lost even more weight, reducing her size--12 wedding day figure to one she proudly displayed in a bikini for the first time after she moved to Florida in 1986. She dyed her brown hair blond. The Schiavos had been married five years when Terri started having abdominal pains. She and Michael had been trying for more than a year to have a baby but hadn't been successful. Terri had been missing her menstrual period and started seeing doctors. They never diagnosed what was wrong, Mrs. Schindler said.

On Feb. 25, 1990, Michael Schiavo woke up about 5 a.m. to use the bathroom. He saw his wife fall to the floor. Her heart stopped beating, and her brain was deprived of oxygen for five minutes before she was taken to the hospital. Ever since, Terri Schiavo has been in a vegetative state. She lives in Palm Gardens nursing home in Largo. A loss of potassium caused the heart attack, but family members say doctors never discovered why. The only theory was that she might have had an eating disorder.

Her family now agrees there might have been a problem they missed. She didn't eat much, and her sister suspects she threw up after meals. They say she worried about gaining the weight back. But Michael Schiavo insists she had a healthy appetite and said he never noticed anything wrong. He said doctors have never been sure she had an eating disorder, and he considers her condition a mystery.

Today, Terri Schiavo, 36, breathes and sleeps, moans and smiles. Her brown eyes dart around her room between blinks, but doctors say she can't think or know what is around her. She can turn her head and constantly opens and closes her mouth, but doctors say the movements and sounds are caused by reflexes, not emotions. Her large, private room is filled with teddy bears, big and small. The only sound is the ticktock of a house--shaped clock mounted on her wall. A note on the wall informs nurses to keep her TV on in the evening because it might stop her from moaning.

Nurses alternate between laying her on her bed or propping her in a chair. Contractions cause her to ball her hands into a fist so tightly she wears special padding to protect her palms. The Schindlers acknowledge that Michael Schiavo insisted on the best care for his wife, and made demands on her nursing home that they are not accustomed to providing. Terri gets a bath and shampoo every day, instead of the standard twice a week. Her legs are shaved and makeup applied each morning. She wears regular clothes, not a hospital gown. Michael, 36, a respiratory therapist, said he spends a few hours a week there, picking up her laundry to wash at home and making sure she gets the "good diapers."

Beginning of feud
On Feb. 14, 1993, Michael took two dozen roses to the nursing home. He was sitting by his wife's bed studying for college classes when Bob and Mary Schindler walked in. Their versions of what happened next couldn't be more different.

Michael Schiavo said Schindler immediately asked how much of the malpractice money he would receive. Schindler said the two started arguing about an infection Terri had contracted that Michael did not want to treat. Schindler said Schiavo pushed a table and threw some books across the room. Schiavo said Schindler left and stood in the hall with his fists clenched. Mrs. Schindler prevented the two men from going after each other.

That fight began the intense feud that has only grown stronger through the years. They haven't spoken since that day. They avoid each other at the nursing home. They hired attorneys. In separate interviews Friday, the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo answered questions about Terri, but repeatedly steered the conversation back to each other -- and the lies each says the other uttered on the witness stand last week. At the root of their dispute is $1--million.

Bob Schindler, 62, and his wife, 58, claim Schiavo wants to remove his wife's feeding tube to inherit $700,000 a Pinellas jury awarded her for medical care after a malpractice suit in 1993. They say they don't fault him for moving on with his life, but say he refuses to divorce their daughter because he would lose rights to the money. Schiavo, who personally received $300,000 in the suit, insists that's not true.

He says he has offered to donate the $700,000 to Hospice of the Florida Suncoast if the Schindlers agree to removing the feeding tube. He renewed that offer last week. "The money means nothing," he said. "I haven't even thought about the money."

Schiavo accuses the Schindlers of wanting the money out of spite. He described them as a financially strapped couple who blame Schiavo for not monitoring his wife's health and for not sharing the settlement money with them. He said Friday he is sure the Schindlers just want to become their daughter's guardians so they can take her off life support themselves and inherit the money. The Schindlers say they want to use the money to give their daughter the best medical care available.

They acknowledge that Michael Schiavo tried for years to find a stimulus that would cure their daughter -- from experimental care in California to beauty make--overs. They just say he gave up too soon. "She never had the opportunity to make the recovery," said Mrs. Schindler. She says her son--in--law aggressively pursued treatment for his wife for years until the jury award. The Schindlers say they visit their daughter on the weekends. Schiavo, who replaced his wedding band with a gold ring fashioned with the diamonds from Terri's wedding ring, says he goes twice a week on his days off. They never see each other there. But that doesn't stop them from accusing each other of rarely visiting and not caring about Mrs. Schiavo anymore. Since 1993, the Schindlers have tried unsuccessfully to become their daughter's guardians. They hired lawyers to try to get Schiavo to turn over medical records. Finally, after seven years, Michael Schiavo moved the fight to the courtroom.

Wait for resolution
Both sides say last week's trial was horribly difficult. "Do you know what hell is?" was how Michael Schiavo described it Friday. They didn't sleep. They didn't eat. And they said they had to relive the awful day in 1990 when Terri Schiavo became lost to them. Now, they'll wait. Circuit Judge George Greer promised the families Friday he would take no longer than two weeks to determine whether the feeding tube can be removed. Legally, the burden is on Michael Schiavo, who initiated the trial. If the judge does not find "clear and convincing evidence" that Mrs. Schiavo opposed life support, he would allow the feeding tube to remain.

Family members of both Terri and Michael Schiavo presented conflicting testimony on what they believed her wishes would be. But everyone agreed on one thing: They wished the fight had never grown so bitter. "It didn't have to get to this," Bob Schindler Jr. said. "It could have been solved amicably. . . . If Terri knew what this had done to this family, she would go ballistic."



Copyright 2000 Times Publishing Company
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
April 18, 2000, Tuesday, 0 South Pinellas Edition

Schiavo transferred to a hospice center
ANITA KUMAR

The parents of the woman, who is in a persistent vegetative state, protest her husband's decision. Terri Schiavo, whose right--to--die case has generated nationwide publicity, has been moved to a hospice in Pinellas Park that caters to people who are expected to die within months. Mrs. Schiavo was transferred last week from Palm Garden nursing home in Largo to a home run by Hospice of the Florida Suncoast. Her husband and parents, who have been feuding about whether to keep her alive with a feeding tube, now are battling over the differences in care at nursing homes versus hospices.

Just last month, Michael Schiavo went into court to fight to keep his brain--damaged wife at the nursing home that had cared for her six years but threatened to evict her because of publicity surrounding the case. Schiavo decided to move his wife because Hospice House Woodside provides grief counseling, a service Schiavo hopes he and his wife's family will use, said Deborah Bushnell, Schiavo's attorney. Also, the nursing home staff continued to be uncomfortable with the notoriety and Schiavo believes Woodside has better security, she said.

Terri Schiavo's family, the Schindlers, said they don't believe those explanations and are worried that Mrs. Schiavo will not get necessary treatment at a facility that advertises its care is focused "on comfort rather than cure." "We're scared," said Bob Schindler, Mrs. Schiavo's father. "Things are bad enough, there is no reason for this." In February, Pinellas--Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer granted Schiavo permission to remove his wife's feeding tube, but not until 30 days after all of the Schindlers' appeals have been exhausted. Mrs. Schiavo, 36, is in a persistent vegetative state.

The family believes Michael Schiavo will refuse to allow treatment of an illness, such as infection, which could cause her death. Schiavo has refused, at least initially, to provide his wife with treatment for two prior infections at previous nursing homes, they say. Hospice officials said they abide by whatever treatment the guardian, or in this case Michael Schiavo, asks for -- even if that treatment is opposed by a doctor.

"To me, it's quite clear what's going on here," said Bob Schindler Jr., Mrs. Schiavo's brother. "He wants her to die before the appeal can go through." But Bushnell said Schiavo has not decided whether to withhold treatment, and would decide on his wife's care on a case--by--case basis. She also said Schiavo would tell the Schindlers -- who do not have access to medical information --before he decided to withhold treatment.

The Schindlers' attorney, Joseph Magri, said Monday he plans to ask the judge to consider new developments in Mrs Schiavo's case. "We will attempt to do something, that's for sure," he said. At Woodside, unlike nursing homes, the length of stays are generally shorter and a patient's "life expectancy is months, rather than years," said Mike Bell, the hospice's vice president of development and community relations. Bell said hospice facilities are for people with terminal illnesses. The American Medical Association does not consider a person in a vegetative state -- who is expected to live many more decades -- as terminal; but Bushnell said Mrs. Schiavo will fit that description once her feeding tube is removed.

Mrs. Schiavo collapsed at her St. Petersburg home Feb. 25, 1990. Her heart stopped beating, and she was deprived of oxygen for five minutes. She has been in a vegetative state since. The Schindlers and Schiavo have been feuding since 1993 and have not spoken since. Schiavo wants to stop treating his wife, but the Schindlers want her kept alive in the hope she will improve. Each side has accused the other of trying to control Mrs. Schiavo's fate to get $700,000 she received in 1993 from a malpractice suit. The annual costs at Woodside average $80,000, Bell said.

The Schindlers are appealing Judge Greer's decision to remove their daughter's feeding tube to the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland. They must notify the court of the reasons for their appeal in the next two months.




Copyright 2000 Times Publishing Company
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
April 25, 2000, Tuesday, 0 South Pinellas Edition

Parents want woman moved from hospice
ANITA KUMAR

The parents of Terri Schiavo oppose hospice care for her, saying a nursing home would be best. Terri Schiavo's parents are battling their son--in--law's recent decision to move their brain--damaged daughter to a facility that caters to patients who are expected to die within months. Bob and Mary Schindler of St. Petersburg are asking a Pinellas judge to move Mrs. Schiavo back to a nursing home from a center run by Hospice of the Florida Suncoast.

The Schindlers say hospice does not focus on long--term care, may administer medicine that may hasten death and could refuse to treat certain illnesses, such as infections, according to a motion mailed to the clerk's office Friday. "I'm hopeful about the motion," Bob Schindler said, "but we'll see what happens." Michael Schiavo decided to move his wife from Palm Garden nursing home in Largo this month because hospice provides grief counseling, a service Schiavo hopes he and the Schindlers will use, Schiavo's attorneys said. Also, the Palm Garden staff continued to be uncomfortable with publicity generated by Mrs. Schiavo's right--to--die case, and Hospice House Woodside has better security, they said.

George Felos, Schiavo's attorney, said the care at Woodside is not different from a nursing home. "There is nothing a nursing home can do that couldn't be done at hospice," he said. In February, Pinellas--Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer granted Schiavo permission to remove his wife's feeding tube, but not until 30 days after all of the Schindlers' appeals have been exhausted.
Greer must now decide whether to keep Mrs. Schiavo, 36, at hospice. If he decides to leave her there, the Schindlers say they want to have Mrs. Schiavo's medical plan shared with them.

Mrs. Schiavo collapsed at her St. Petersburg home Feb. 25, 1990. Her heart stopped beating, and she was deprived of oxygen for five minutes. She has been in a vegetative state since. The Schindlers and Schiavo have been feuding since 1993 and have not spoken since. Schiavo wants to remove his wife's feeding tube, but the Schindlers want her kept alive in the hope that she will improve.

Each side has accused the other of trying to control Mrs. Schiavo's fate to get $700,000 she received in 1993 from a malpractice suit. The annual costs at Woodside average $80,000, Bell said. The Schindlers are appealing Greer's decision to remove their daughter's feeding tube to the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland. They must notify the court of the reasons for their appeal in the next two months.



Just a few things I would like to note from the articles above.
1) The Hospice of Florida Suncoast clearly is on the "Right to be killed" side as shown the in first article and their town hall meeting.

2)Why of all the charities out there would Michael Shiavo want to give the $700,000 to the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast?

3) The writer ANITA KUMAR is not a very good reporter or is also on the "Right to be killed" side of the issue. The third and fourth article are only 7 days apart and are basically the same story except one important fact. Michael Schiavo seems to have a new lawyer named George Felos. If you were the writer of the story, wouldn't you at least mention the previous attorney from the week before and ask why Michael Schiavo switched attorney's. Why write a new story when the previous one was only a few days old and why not just republish the first one instead of writing a new one?

4) Both of the last 2 articles point out that the cost for the Hospice would be $80,000 per year. The last article even states that Terri would not be considered terminal until her feeding tube was removed. Why was she on medicare??


SBD

[Barbie2004]

[SBD]

Apparently, as of 1989, it was illegal to remove a feeding tube, even with a living will. The former Governor even vetoed a bill that would have allowed it with a living will.

Times Publishing Company
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

July 13, 1989, Thursday, City Edition


Martinez on the wrong side of right-to-die bill

Editor:Last week I sent a letter to Gov. Martinez urging him to sign the bill to end the suffering of terminally ill persons. We all know now that the bill has been vetoed. The governor should be put on notice that he is on the wrong side of the majority. I for one will work to see that the governor is not re-elected in 1990. If our democracy works as I am sure it will, a new governor will sign a new bill to the consternation of those who profit from keeping terminally ill persons alive against their will.

My particular concern with this matter stems from the recent death of my father-in-law who narrowly escaped the fate of those who continue to suffer because of our laws. He died as a debate raged among doctors and nursing home representatives over feeding tubes and straps to tie him to his bed. There was no need to tie his left side as he was paralyzed, and brain damage from a stroke had removed him from reality.

God saw fit to respect my father-in-law's own indisputable wishes which included a living will and a durable family power of attorney.

These documents, which spelled out in no uncertain terms that there would be no feeding tubes or any other life sustaining apparatus used to prolong his life, were useless under existing Florida laws.

I give a sincere vote of confidence to Sen. Jeanne Malchon for introducing the vetoed bill. Don't give up senator - do it again and the people will help you win this time and elect a new governor in 1990.

Gaylord L. Walker, St. Petersburg

Editor: If Gov. Martinez truly believes that the right-to-die bill, which would allow withholding artificial feeding and hydration, might not be in accordance with Article 1, Sec. 23 of the Florida Constitution, he should have signed the bill and allowed the court to decide its constitutionality.

In vetoing the bill he has shown a complete lack of caring and compassion for hundreds, perhaps thousands of citizens of Florida.

I am enraged and outraged that the governor would be so heartless as to veto this bill.

Alice Willard Warner, Clearwater

Editor: My husband and I just made out a living will.

We may as well tear it up. The state says the hospitals can tell us when to die. After they have drained us financially dry.

Will they allow us to die then? Or, will they make Florida the land of the living dead?

We may have all the freedoms in the world, but, our right to die normally has been taken away.

That's what I call political power

Cottie Spatz, Hudson

Editor: I am an elderly woman, no children or living relatives. I have made a living will, my doctor has a copy directing him and my attorney that if I am comatose or in a vegetative state no feeding tube or any artificial means be used to keep me alive. I want to die in peace and dignity.

Because Gov. Martinez has ignored the wishes of people like me and has yielded to pressure from certain groups, I sincerely hope he is defeated in the 1990 election. I am thankful for able, conscientious legislators like Sen. Jeanne Malchon.

Vivien Bruce, St. Petersburg Editor: Re: The right to suffer, editorial, July 6.

I agree with all you say, and would like to add a few thoughts of my own: I doubt that Gov. Martinez has ever thought much about the gross injustices and indignities visited upon the helpless, hapless victims of incurable and terminal diseases, even though these people have done their best to legally ensure that feeding and/or hydration tubes would never be used to extend life into that area and time when there are no signs of consciousness, and no hope that consciousness will return. We are much more humane to our dogs, cats and other pets.

We are not talking about something which might lead to euthanasia.

We are speaking of the constitutional right to die with dignity.

There are many thousands of voters who would never have voted for Bob Martinez had they known that he does not have the guts to take a stand and defend that stand to the best of his ability. Instead, he tries to be all things to all people. But, instead of helping to carry out the will of the people of Florida, he prefers to pass the buck. I voted for Martinez, and I am very sorry I did.

There seems to bea bitter long history in Florida on this issue.

SBD

[Barbie2004]

Yes, and no matter what anyone does, there is always the extreme case, such as some here that spark emotions.

When my mother was in the hospital dying of cancer, I never once thought about having her killed. More morphine, yes. Killed, no.

Did we talk about it?

NO.

I wanted every precious moment with her. And I know she did with us, her family.

I won't comment too much on the letters above, but I don't believe everything I read. People who are termanily ill do not have the strength to physically out maneuver doctors and nurses, so I find the "being strapped down and forced" part particularly suspect. These letters could have been written by anyone, even Felos.

Only goes to show how hard and long the Culture of Death has been fighting this battle, and right under my nose.

[SBD]

The point of the article was to show the Law in Florida was in favor of life, in all cases, even with a living will. It's interesting to note that the year was 1989, right after Reagan left office. I bet that the changes in the law all occured under Clinton. Yet another bad legacy from the Clinton Administration.

SBD

[Barbie2004]

[SBD]

Panelists are George Felos, a Dunedin lawyer and Hospice board chairman;William Moore, Hospice medical services quality review physician; the Rev. Mark Peterson, who works with Bay Care Health Systems; and Sandra B. Sunter, Hospice regional program director.

Checkout the "Reverand" they had on their panel.

Pastors clash over rights
http://www.sptimes.com/News/052401/news_pf/SouthPinellas/Pastors_clash_over_ri.shtml

Several walk out as a colleague, who spoke out strongly against gays and lesbians, begins to pray.
By BRYAN GILMER

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 24, 2001


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Several walk out as a colleague, who spoke out strongly against gays and lesbians, begins to pray.
ST. PETERSBURG -- After he finished his speech encouraging 25 ministers to uphold "a 3,500-year Judeo-Christian principal of opposing homosexuality and lesbianism as a valid lifestyle," the Rev. D. Scott Boggs asked the assembled to pray with him.

But the Rev. Mark Peterson, interim pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church, spoke up: "I will not pray with you today. I just can't pray with you. This is something that troubles me."

With that, Peterson and seven or eight others from different denominations left the meeting of area pastors at Boggs' Northside Baptist Church in St. Petersburg. In an unexpected way, they may have also given some life to the debate over whether to explicitly protect gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people in St. Petersburg's human rights ordinance.

Wednesday's meeting of ministers was, in essence, prompted by a request from leaders of an advocacy group, Equality Florida. The group had gone before St. Petersburg's City Council last month and asked that sexual orientation and gender identification be added to the city's human rights ordinance, which prohibits discrimination. The council, with Bill Foster opposed, voted to study it.

Boggs asked Foster to come to Wednesday's meeting to discuss how Foster's Christian faith permeates his work as a politician. Foster was greeted by protesters, and over Boggs' initial objections, invited them into the church to listen to the presentation.

After Foster and Boggs spoke, Peterson said he was upset that Boggs had declared there would be "no debate." Peterson said he had not made up his mind on whether the ordinance should be amended and added that some ministers present might support it.

The Rev. Roger Miller of Trinity United Church of Christ spoke out with Peterson, saying, "I think it is arrogant to demand we all listen and then say, 'Let's pray.' "

Boggs did not respond, but called out, "You are dismissed," as they left. He then said his prayer.

The issue is familiar to Tampa Bay area residents. Hillsborough County has struggled with including gays and lesbians in its human rights ordinance for more than a decade: adding them in 1991, deleting them four years later and then declining last year to add them again.

Adding "gender identity" is even more controversial. That would prohibit discriminating against women who dress or wear their hair in a traditionally masculine way, or against a man who dresses as a woman, for example.

In Boggs' view, it would prohibit firing a male preschool teacher who showed up to work wearing a dress one day.

Mayor Rick Baker, who does not have a vote on the council, attends Northside Baptist but did not attend the luncheon. Still, he said, he agrees with Foster.

"My stance on the issue in general -- I was pretty clear in the campaign," he said Wednesday. "I do not support a modification to the human rights ordinance to include sexual orientation."

Foster told the group Wednesday how he accepted Jesus Christ as his savior at age 8. He said he believes "every jot and tittle" of the Bible. That includes not only Old and New Testament teachings that homosexuality is wrong, but also the idea that "we should love all people and hate sin and not sit in the judgment of others," he said.

He said he prays over his packet of City Council material each week for guidance in reaching the right decisions.

"I don't think people with gender identity issues or homosexuals should be in the same class" as racial minorities, the disabled or other groups the ordinance currently protects, Foster said.

Amending the ordinance would supersede the morality of city residents, Foster said. "I don't think it's the city's role to impose on you who you associate with, or employ or house," he said.

Robin Hankins, co-chairwoman of Equality Florida, sees Foster's opposition to the ordinance as "an attack on our community."

"We want food, clothing and shelter," she said. "These are basic human rights."

Co-chairwoman Karen Doering said, "We're not asking for special rights, or even equal rights. We're not asking to be married, make medical decisions for our partners. We just want to be able to be employed and rent an apartment."

Looks like maybe the some of the same Liberals behind the Gay movement might be involved in this movement as well.

SBD