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Councilman Hazouri Says He’ll Sponsor Expanded HRO

Patrick Donges
/
WJCT

Jacksonville City Councilman Tommy Hazouri says he’ll sponsor an expansion of the city’s human rights ordinance to ban discrimination against gay and transgender people.

Hazouri talked about the HRO on WJCT’s “First Coast Connect” Thursday morning.

At-large City Councilman Tommy Hazouri says he’s confident Mayor Lenny Curry will partner with him on the issue of human rights once budget negotiations are done. Hazouri says Jacksonville should be a place where no one is left out, but today, gay and transgender people are left out of its anti-discrimination policy.

Hazouri said, “And that’s, that’s sort of like our Confederate flag today, unfortunately, and we need to take care of it.”

Hazouri says he anticipates pushback from religious-freedom advocates, but as a former state lawmaker, he says he believes differences can be hammered out during the Council’s process.

Listen to the full conversation with Tommy Hazouri on Thursday’s episode of the “First Coast Connect” podcast on iTunes.

Jessica Palombo oversees local news at WJCT News 89.9 and Jacksonville Today. With a master’s degree in broadcast and digital journalism from Syracuse University and bachelor's in journalism from the University of Florida, Jessica is a nearly lifelong resident of Jacksonville. You may have once seen her on a local community theater stage. These days, you can most likely catch her reading a book in a school pickup line.