© 2025 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.

City Attorney: Challenge To Gay Rights Law 'Defective'

Four people lined up at voting booths.
AP

The city attorney in Jacksonville says an initiative intended to challenge a new gay rights law cannot be legally placed on the November ballot.The Florida Times-Union reports that city general counsel Jason Gabriel said in a memo this week that the initiative is "defective" because it would grant local voters a power they do not have. Gabriel says only the Jacksonville city council has legislative authority.
A conservative group called Empower Jacksonville has been collecting signatures in an attempt to get the initiative placed on the November ballot. It would overturn the city's human rights ordinance, which was changed by the council last year to prohibit discrimination against gay and transgender people.
An Empower Jacksonville spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.