This injustice has it all: overt discrimination, intolerance for dissent, arbitrary limits on free speech, excessive force by the police, etc. The Washington Blade reports:

Arrest of Fla. activist draws national attention

The arrest of Florida gay rights activist Nadine Smith at a public hearing in Largo, Fla., Feb. 27 brought swift condemnation from two national gay rights groups.

The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and the Human Rights Campaign issued a joint statement condemning Smith’s arrest and called for the state’s attorney’s office to drop the charges against her.

Smith, the executive director of Equality Florida, was arrested at a Largo City Commission hearing after she testified in favor of allowing City Manager Steve Stanton to keep his job (See related story on p. 16). Stanton was under attack from religious conservatives after it was revealed that he planned to undergo gender reassignment. At the meeting, the commission voted 5-2 to fire Stanton.

Largo is a suburb of St. Petersburg with a population of about 75,000.

Smith was arrested after she handed a flier that read, “Don’t Discriminate� to a hearing attendee who had requested it, witnesses said. Earlier, Largo police had decided to prohibit the distribution of fliers and the display of placards inside the hearing because they believed it would be disruptive, a police spokesperson said. When Smith was asked to stop distributing the flier, she first asked why and then became disruptive, according to Largo police. She was then taken into a room, where four officers subdued her and arrested her, police said.

Stratton Pollitzer, deputy director of Equality Florida, said Smith was “shoved to the floor� in a “mean and violent arrest.�

Smith was charged with resisting arrest with violence and disrupting a public assembly. She could face up to five years and 60 days in prison if convicted on both counts. [full text]

Additional coverage of this story may be found here.