College Town Repeals Protections for LGBT Residents

Source: think progress

On Tuesday, residents of Fayetteville, Arkansas narrowly voted to overturn its civil rights ordinance that protected all residents from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. The county election commission reports that 51 percent of residents voted to repeal Ordinance 119, which would have banned such discrimination based on real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic background, marital status or veteran status. Thousands of residents voted against the repeal, but came up about 500 votes short.

Anne-Garland Berry, the campaign manager of the Keep Fayetteville Fair Coalition, released a statement lamenting the result of the vote. “Fayetteville is a city filled with inclusive, accepting citizens,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, the repeal of this ordinance tells our visitors that we do not treat everyone with respect and only allocate freedoms to certain groups of people.”

In Fayetteville, as in most states and cities across the US, it is still legal to fire someone solely based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. With federal protections stalled in Congress and the Arkansas legislature’s Republican super-majority expanding after this past election, the town’s LGBT residents testified before the city council that they desperately needed a local ordinance.

“People like me don’t feel safe here,” resident Nathan Southerland Cordsmeyer told the Council in August. “I’m living with a shadow over my head.”

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/12/10/3601623/deep-south-college-town-repeals-protections-for-lgbt-residents/