Defending Hard Won Rights for LGBTQA+
By John Hayden
Nearly 20 years since the Supreme Court of the United States declared anti-sodomy laws unconstitutional and seven years since marriage equality came to Florida, it looks like LGBTQA+ rights are strong and secure. However, local attorney and community pioneer, Ken Keechl, says looks can be deceiving.
“I have concerns about the future of LGBTQA+ rights both across the U.S. and in Florida,” he declares. A year after the Republican-led Florida legislature successfully attacked trans student-athletes by banning them from school sports, the state legislature is speeding more anti-LGBTQA+ bills towards becoming law. Before convening for a new session in Tallahassee, he talked with OutClique about the perilous state of LGBTQA+ rights.
“The Republican legislature in Tallahassee isn’t done hurting our community. The idiotic “Don’t Say Gay” bill in the Florida House is just damn cruel. This bill, if it passes, would stop discussions of sexuality and gender identity in the classroom, even though studies have shown that LGBTQ kids who learn about LGBTQ issues have 23 percent lower odds of attempting suicide.”
Also wending its way through the legislature is a bill that would allow doctors to refuse to perform necessary and legal medical treatments if they have a “moral” objection. This will directly affect trans patients and could reach further into prescribing PrEP or treating HIV. “This equally idiotic “conscience” bill opens the door to authorizing medical professionals to discrimination to LGBTQ patients. These bills are blatant pandering to the right wing of the Republican Party. Any Republican official who votes for either bill should be ashamed.”
Many would believe these could be passed but found unconstitutional in courts. But for that to happen, you would have to have judges that agreed. It appears there is a clear and dangerous path for these to get a judicial stamp of approval. “Gov. DeSantis has literally hijacked the Florida Supreme Court,” he explains. “We used to have a relatively modest, balanced, Florida Supreme Court. Now we have six (out) of seven extremely conservative justices who are going out of their way to undo the advances for gays and lesbians, for women, for minorities. It’s almost like they’re on a mission.”
Keechl looks beyond the headlines and closely follows nuanced developments at the state and federal courts. He was the first openly gay county commissioner in Broward, and served as County Mayor. He knows that LGBTQA+ representation in city halls, schools, and other community leadership is a positive, not the doom that GOP fear tactics inspire.
“As the Mayor of Broward County in 2009 and 2010, I felt a moral imperative to reach out to the Broward’s gay/straight student alliances. I would say to them ‘It does get better. I promise you. Look at me, I’m the openly gay mayor of Broward County and her 1.8 million residents. Don’t let anyone limit what you can do.’ More often than not, they were stunned and excited. I can’t tell you the number of kids who, to this day, remember me and thank me. The “Don’t Say Gay” bill will prohibit this. It’s unconscionable.”
In his private practice, Keechl took on cases that pioneered case law for protecting his LGBTQA+ clients. He believes we are living in a time where our basic liberties are at risk.
He also believes rolling back women’s rights is a big step towards curtailing marriage equality. “What’s going on now is the Roe v Wade issue, the right for a woman to control her own body,” he says. “Everyone is focusing on a woman’s right to choose, which has been a fundamental right for years and years.”
If Roe is rolled back, it will be a body blow to the right to privacy. Keechl says once that goes, anything could be fair game. “The most obvious threat is that the U.S. Supreme Court determines that there is no right to privacy. That is the beginning. If you want to take away our right to marriage and the right to not have our relationships criminalized, that’s where you start.”
This isn’t the first time Keechl’s fought against Republican indifference. Early in the AIDS crisis, President Reagan and his enablers ignored the LGBTQA+ community’s cries for help. He was one of few authentic voices demanding to be heard. “There weren’t many openly gay attorneys in Broward back in 1987 when I graduated from law school. I knew I had to live my life as an openly gay attorney, so that those future LGBTQA+ attorneys would have a role model. I started as an associate at the law firm of Brinkley Morgan and quickly became an owner. After the AIDS crisis took the life of my companion in the early 1990s, I knew I had to become politically active and speak out. So, I became involved in politics and eventually I became the President of the Dolphin Democrats.”
That laid the groundwork for his political campaigns and time in office. “I soon realized that the LGBTQA+ community had few elected officials, so in 2006 I threw my hat in the ring for the Broward County Commission, District 4, seat. It was one of nine commission seats. It hugged the coast of Broward and it had always been a Republican leaning seat. In fact, the incumbent was a Republican who had once been the head of the Florida Senate. No one thought I had a chance of winning except my partner, Ted, and me. Surprising everyone, I won.” That achievement was a watershed moment for South Florida’s LGBTQA+ community. “Being sworn in as a Broward County Commissioner with [my partner] Ted holding the Bible was truly one of the best moments of my life to date. I loved the job and I was honored when my eight colleagues selected me to be the Mayor of Broward County for 2009-2010. Thank God, we didn’t have any hurricanes that year, but I did have to deal with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill!”
During his term, Keechl worked on ethics reform when it was clear elected officials could use their office for personal gain, as well as lobby for businesses, including their own private practices. Keechl pushed for a ban on those practices, and left a more transparent Broward County government behind when he lost election in 2010.
Republicans are still making it hard for Democrats to stay in office, and Keechl says Democrats in Tallahassee are just trying to keep their heads above water.
“My Democrat friends in the state legislature are just treading water, because there’s not enough of them. We are in a place right now where the Republican majorities in the legislature could be set for 20-30 years.”
For now, he hopes salvation will come from the White House.
“God forbid President Biden doesn’t have the opportunity to replace one, two, or three justices and then we get another Trump in office. We’re gonna be doomed for the rest of our lives. I believe that.” Biden is in the process of selecting his first justice for the Supreme Court, which should be seated by this summer. However, after the midterms, Republicans could regain control of the Senate and block or limit future choices.
