Pam Gerber, left, goes over the city’s HRC Municipal Equality Index score with members during the LGBT Task Force meeting in May. (Anna Waugh/Dallas Voice)
Members of former Councilwoman Delia Jasso’s LGBT Task Force hope to find her replacement by August.
Jasso has chaired the Task Force since its creation in 2009. Its members have helped implement sensitivity training at for Dallas police and firefighters and began having city Pride events last June. Jasso lost her District 1 seat to Councilman Scott Griggs in May after redistricting placed them in the same district.
Several members met Tuesday night to discuss the process for selecting a sponsor and maybe a co-sponsor. The Task Force will email all council members a questionnaire about what they feel is the force’s role and what they envision as their role working with the group.
Those interested will then undergo private interviews before a new sponsor is selected. Council members return from summer break Aug. 7, so the Task Force anticipates selecting a new sponsor by mid- to late August. City staff won’t participate in finding Jasso’s replacement because it’s a conflict of interest. Several city employees, including the fire and police LGBT liaisons, often attend the meetings.
There was uncertainty about having one sponsor or co-sponsors, so members agreed to be open to the idea and see how the questionnaires and interviews go. When asked if Dallas Voice could attend the interviews, members said it would be better to have them be private so council members could be honest and frank. Discussion then arose about how the Voice began attending Task Force meetings. Jasso was asked if the Voice could attend last year and she agreed to open the meetings up to the press since this February.
Members then seemed uncomfortable that the Voice was present as press and not as a member of the group. They said when the group began that they didn’t want media present because Jasso and City Manager Mary Suhm would help change things in City Hall quietly and attention to that would have received negative attention from City Council. Members said it would fall to new leadership whether the paper would be invited to future meetings.
Members discussed the three council members who have expressed interest in taking over the Task Force: Griggs, Philip Kingston and Adam Medrano.
Most agreed that Griggs would not be a good fit, citing the fact that he drafted an LGBT equality resolution last year without first approaching the Task Force. They also felt that Griggs wants to turn the Task Force into a commission, which they are against because they said they get more work done as an informal Task Force and there are concerns about formal membership and attendance at meetings if a commission is formed. Griggs has also said he believes the Task Force’s meetings should be public.
Most also agreed that the possibility that Medrano is closeted shouldn’t affect their decision if he wants to be involved with the group because they want someone who has a good vision and will stand with them on issues. Medrano has refused to say whether he’s gay despite an arrest in connection with homosexual activity in a public restroom several years ago.
Griggs, Kingston and Medrano have all previously told the Voice they were interested in taking over the Task Force.
Griggs said he would like to work with the Task Force and eventually see it turned into a commission with more responsibilities and transparency if the members want that to happen.
“Certainly I’d be willing to take it over,” Griggs said last month, adding that he planned to meet with its members to see what they want to see happen. “What everyone needs to know now is that it’s not going away.”
Medrano said he would like to chair the Task Force because his district has a heavily LGBT constituency.
“There’s a large LGBT community in District 2. That’s important,” he said. “And I believe that I can help out with issues at City Hall as a coalition builder.”
He noted that if he’s not selected as the chair or co-chair, he’s still like to help with the group in some way.
Kingston said he’s spoken to Griggs about the group’s future and “agreed it needs to continue in some form.”
“They’ve asked for a specific point of contact and I’m happy to be that person,” Kingston said.
Task Force members also discussed the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index briefly at Tuesday’s meeting. Members had formed a committee to discuss how to improve Dallas’ score, which was a 76 on last year’s first report. The recommendations have been sent to Paula Blackmon, Mayor Mike Rawlings’ chief of staff. The Task Force expects to be included on the survey HRC sends out to municipalities before the report is completed this year.
