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Editor asks Winter Garden commission how Day of Prayer speakers align with 2022 DEI resolution
Summary
A local editor said remarks at a Day of Prayer event on City Hall steps were at odds with the city's diversity, equity and inclusion resolution and asked the commission to explain.
During the public‑comment portion of the Winter Garden City Commission meeting, Noreen Dworkin, editor in chief of Vox Populi (wintergardenvox.com), asked commissioners to explain how remarks by speakers at a Day of Prayer event on the City Hall steps fit with the city's 2022 diversity, equity and inclusion resolution (Resolution 22‑08).
Dworkin said she counted three speakers at the Day of Prayer who said words to the effect of "we declare Winter Garden belongs to Jesus" and asked what that message signaled to Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and other non‑Christian residents. She referenced language in Resolution 22‑08 that "politics of division including social marginalization will have no place in our city" and called the resolution's statements about diversity "wonderful sentiments." She asked how the Day of Prayer remarks and the mayor's participation in the event square with that earlier resolution.
The transcript records Dworkin asking for a response and waiting for an answer; no city elected official provided a direct reply during the public comment period recorded in the meeting.
Ending: The public comment was on the record and unresponded to in the meeting transcript; the city commission did not offer a substantive reply during that portion of the meeting as recorded.
