Last night at the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender mayoral forum sponsored by Nashville’s GLBT Chamber of Commerce , five mayoral candidates showed up: Briley, Dean, Dozier, Eaton & Gentry.

Mary Mancini (Liberadio) was there and discusses why she was impressed with Gentry’s performance:

Howard Gentry was the last to make his statement. In 2003, Gentry, as Vice Mayor, cast the tie-breaking vote which defeated an anti-discrimination ordinance which would have outlawed employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and disability. I think everyone expected the vote to be brought up during the forum but I don’t think anyone, even Gentry, expected him to bring it up during his opening statement. But, he said, he knew he had to address it after he was “accosted” prior to the event by someone who scolded him for showing up.

Now, even if his statement was political calculus instead of heartfelt mea culpa, it was still powerful. Gentry began by saying he had prayed for guidance before he cast the infamous vote and he also prayed last night that he would say “what is in his heart.” He said that we all have to make tough decisions in life and the night he cast the vote he concluded that the bill was about hatred and “all that was going on at that time” and he felt that he had an opportunity to end it. But, he said, he knows now that his decision hurt people “like he had been hurt early in his life” and so he came to the forum not to explain his vote but “to ask for forgiveness” for the pain he may have caused. He ended by saying that even though there is more to Howard Gentry than this one vote, his daily discussions, confrontations, and interviews on the topic have equipped him to understand this situation better than any other candidate.

In just under two minutes Howard Gentry explained his vote, asked for forgiveness, looked to the future, turned his negative into a positive, and radiated humanity. Nicely done.

No questions were reported about Dozier’s haircut.