FAYETTEVILLE -- A proposal prohibiting businesses, landlords and places of "public accommodation" from discriminating against people because of their sexual orientation and gender identity drew some praise but mostly opposition last week from a standing-room-only crowd in the Fayetteville City Council chambers.
The ordinance, if approved, would create a municipal civil rights administrator position through which aggrieved parties could file discrimination complaints. Suspected offenders could be prosecuted for unjustly firing a gay employee or evicting a transgender tenant, for example.
The ordinance also would apply to other classes protected under federal law from discrimination based on race, religion, age or gender. In Arkansas and more than 25 other states, no such protections are in place for gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Aldermen heard nearly three hours of comment at the Aug. 5 meeting. The ordinance is scheduled for another -- and possibly final -- round of consideration Tuesday.
The Rev. Jeremy Flanagan, pastor at Pathway Baptist Church, was the first to address the council last week. He said the ordinance would restrict churchgoers' ability to freely express their religious beliefs about homosexuality.
"It just opens the door to where now we have to be careful about what we say, because now we can be held criminally liable," Flanagan said. "I believe that goes against our First Amendment rights."
After Alderman Matthew Petty, the ordinance's sponsor, offered an amendment expressly exempting religious groups from the proposal, Flanagan and others reasserted their opposition.
Flanagan challenged the definition of "gender identity," saying it would be up to an individual to determine which gender that person identifies with. He said that could lead to grown men using women's restrooms or changing areas just because they say they identify a certain way.
David Garcia, one of just a handful of residents who supported the proposal Tuesday, said Flanagan's fears were overblown.
Garcia noted most homes and many businesses have "gender neutral" restrooms. And, he added, "Last time I bought clothes and tried on clothes, you go in, you close the door, you try your clothes on. I didn't have other men gawking at me while I was changing."
Perhaps the most frequent criticism of the proposed ordinance last week was Petty's -- and other supporters' -- failure to cite any specific instances of discrimination.
"This appears to be a solution in search of a problem," said Peter Tonnessen of Fayetteville.
According to a recent survey of 979 gay, bisexual and transgender residents in Arkansas by the Human Rights Campaign advocacy group, 25 percent of respondents reported experiencing employment discrimination.
"There are instances [of discrimination]," Petty said. "And this idea that I'm going to A) either disclose someone who has lodged a complaint and expose them to public scrutiny or B) expose a business or another association that has had an alleged complaint to public scrutiny is a farce. I would not do that."
Opponents also questioned the cost of creating a civil rights administrator position and said taxpayer money could better be put toward building streets and trails and improving public parks.
After first saying he thought an additional employee would have to be hired to fill the civil rights administrator role, Mayor Lioneld Jordan -- and Petty -- both said they believe the position could be filled without adding anyone to the city's payroll. Neither have said which staff member would assume the civil rights administrator role.
Metro on 08/14/2014