On Tuesday, almost 37% of Topeka, Kansas voters turned out to vote on a city ban which would have prohibited any legislation preventing discrimination against gays and lesbians, including hate crime legislation. This ban would have made Topeka the only city with such an ordinance, which could not have been repealed for at least ten years due to Kansas law.
Almost 53% of voters cast their ballot against the ban, with about 47% voting for it.
The ubiquitous Phelps clan of Westboro Baptist Church (they of "God Hates Fags" signage displayed at every opportunity in Topeka and elsewhere) got this initiative on the ballot through a petition drive. Other religious groups such as Truth in Love Outreach (yes, irony is dead) also backed the ban. They explain the ban's failure at the polls by pointing to confusing wording.
Sorry--I don't know how to make the nice gray box; below is an excerpt from the front-page article in today's
Topeka Capital-Journal:
"Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church, which since 1991 has conducted anti-homosexual picketing under the leadership of Pastor Fred W. Phelps Sr., late last year led a petition drive seeking to repeal the ordinances and block the passage in Topeka of any measure recognizing homosexuals as a protected class. State law would have prevented the city council from overturning the ban for 10 years.
Members of more than a dozen other congregations teamed up with Westboro Baptist Church to collect more than the 3,709 signatures needed to force the election on Tuesday's ballot question.
Opponents of the ballot question stressed its connection to Westboro Church, while supporters sought to distance it from the Phelpses, saying Topekans could strongly oppose the church's message of hate while taking a stand against extending civil rights to homosexuals based on behaviors they can change.
Elaine and Richard Zlotky left the polls inside Hayden High School at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
"My primary reason is it's the right thing to do," Richard Zlotky said of his "no" vote. "My secondary reason is I don't want to join the Phelps clan. There are a lot of people who are going to think that way. They are sick and tired of Fred Phelps. He's given the city of Topeka a nasty reputation for what he does."
Jael Phelps on Tuesday conducted national media interviews with The Associated Press, CBS and MSNBC. As she waited to tape a discussion as part of the latter network's "Scarborough Country" program, an MSNBC videographer loaned her his coat and the two chatted. She explained that she is going to school to study nursing, and he asked if she had any hobbies.
"I picket," she said.
"What do you picket?" he asked.
"Do you know who I am?" asked Phelps, whose family is well known for their bright signs decrying homosexuality.
Phelps soon afterward told MSNBC's audience who she is -- a member of a family unequivocal in its belief.
'The proscribed punishment for homosexuality in the Bible is death," she said. "They are worthy of death, and those people who condone that action are just as guilty.'"