Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown announced Thursday he's ordering a review of laws to prevent discrimination in the city.
In a video released through his reelection campaign, Brown says he's ordering the city's Office of General Counsel to conduct the review in order to guarantee discrimination doesn't exist in Jacksonville and take action to prevent it.
In the video, he says, "We have brought new life to downtown by making it a destination and not a pass-through. Because of this work, Jacksonville is a growing city. It’s important that discrimination doesn’t prevent us from becoming the city we know we can be. You believe— like I believe — that every citizen deserves the opportunity to reach their God-given potential."
Advocates of expanding the city's human-rights ordinance have criticized Brown for lacking leadership on the issue of anti-discrimination. He did not voice support for an expansion to protect gay and transgender people during heated City Council debates on that issue. And he had not given a yes-or-no answer about his support when asked on the campaign trail this year.
