Love's Struggle Through the Ages
Without debate or discussion, yesterday the Pocatello, Idaho city council ok'd a
referendum to repeal Pocatello's existing non-discrimination ordinance. Currently the ordinance makes it a misdemeanor to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in employment, housing and public accommodations. The referendum that will be voted on in May states:
Should the city repeal Ordinance No. 2921, which prohibits discrimination against a person in the areas of housing, employment and public accommodations, based upon that person's sexual orientation and gender identity/expression? A yes vote would mean you want the city to repeal the ordinance. A no vote would mean you want the city to keep the ordinance in effect.
You can learn more in the
story posted today by the Idaho State Journal. It took two hearings last year to pass the ordinance written by city attorney Kirk Bybee (cheers!). In the first in April, the city council tied 3-3 in a vote on the ordinance. Mayor Brian Blad then cast the deciding vote to stall passage. Not long afterward I saw the good mayor at a public function and asked why. He said it wasn't a strong ordinance, and he wanted an ordinance passed that would really protect all the city's citizens. Some of us read that as code for you gotta let the haters hate. Yah, huh-r-r-r-r-right. It was finally passed in a 4-2 vote in a second hearing in June, but one of the council members voting in favor was defeated by a newcomer in last year's city council elections, and another won by only a slim margin. So Pocatello, which is reputed to be a liberal hotbed as a university town, either isn't so liberal or so tolerant as state legislators would like us to believe. No matter. As a constitutional republic, this country was founded on the principle that rights are rights and they can't be taken away by popular opinion (no matter how unpopular that opinion may be to the enlightened).
This May we will see if it is easier to energize opponents to vote in opposition out of fear and hate, than to get enough supporters to vote for a positive measure. People are used to having their wishes ignored in Pocatello. Its LGBT citizens and their friends and loved ones know that better than anyone. The ordinance was passed once already, it can be maintained. Don't stop fighting the good fight.