I just found out from the Miami Herald that come Jan. 29, I will have the opportunity to vote for a “citizens’ bill of rights.” Apparently, the thing will promote religious freedom, clean air and scenic beauty, as well as ban discrimination on the basis of domestic relationship status, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

That’s pretty unusual in a city where one’s rights are only guaranteed to the extent that one aggressively exerts them. And I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know about it:

“I’m shocked,” said Ron Brenesky, a co-founder of Unity Coalition, one of Miami-Dade County’s leading Hispanic gay-rights groups. “I commend the city for trying to do this. I commend the spirit, but not the method. We should have been aware. At least we would have gotten our people out to vote.”

Anthony Verdugo, executive director of Miami-Dade’s Christian Family Coalition, said that if he had known about the charter amendment, he’d have urged supporters to vote no. ”Obviously, we would not be in support of it,” Verdugo said.

Heddy Peña, executive director of SAVE, Miami-Dade County’s largest gay-rights group, said her organization has been sending out e-mails urging supporters to vote yes.

”We’ve been trying not to call special attention so that it becomes highly politicized,” Peña said. “You politicize it and you have a fight on your hands.”

Of course, the Miami City Commission is used to operating under the public’s radar, though usually it’s to issue no-bid contracts and no-strings appropriations and sweetheart deals to politically connected developers. But this time it appears it used its considerable power as a force of good, for a change.

Credited with bringing the bill to fruition is Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, a longtime community activist who represents my district. Here’s how he describes the bill of rights:

”It will be a way for us to create further ordinances for green space, open space and quality of life issues because the citizens of Miami will be making a statement that view corridors and scenic beauty are important to them,” Sarnoff says. “It would bring a modern approach to people’s rights in the city of Miami, including sexual preference and gender identification as classifications that are rights that will be upheld in the city of Miami.”

But now the cat’s out of the bag with a full week to go before the primary. It will be interesting to see whether the militant Christianists will be able to organize a campaign against the rights package in time to spike it.