BOCA RATON, Fla. — The Boca Raton City Council has appointed an openly gay teen to the city’s community relations board after he urged the council to update its 46-year-old anti-discrimination policy for city employees.
Photo courtesy South Florida Gay News
Tyler Morrison, 17, went from speaking out against the city’s lack of protections for its LGBT employees, to becoming one of its “unprotected” employees, reported the South Florida Gay News.
The city, about 50 miles north of Miami, became the only city in Palm Beach County to last year opt out of an ordinance to protect LGBT public employees.
“He seemed like such an articulate and dedicated young man who wanted to get involved,” Susan Haynie, Boca’s Deputy Mayor, told South Florida Gay News after the meeting. “And I suggested that serving on one of the city’s advisory boards was the perfect vehicle for him to get involved with our community.”
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Impressed by Morrison’s articulate arguments, council member Constance Scott supported him for an open seat on the community relations board. The council unanimously appointed Morrison to the city’s community relations board at their December 11 meeting.
Morrison says he’d like to wants to run for Mayor of Boca Raton in 2014, but in the meantime, he’s focused on using his new position to expand LGBT rights in the city — starting with the anti-discrimination policy.
“Absolutely, absolutely, 100 percent, there’s not a doubt in my mind it should be updated,” Morrison said.
