FAYETTEVILLE — With early voting already underway in a special election on Fayetteville’s Uniform Civil Rights Protection ordinance, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge opined Tuesday the anti-discrimination law — and others like it — are unenforceable.
State Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, asked Rutledge last month whether Act 137, a law approved by state lawmakers earlier this year, would prevent the adoption or enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in Fayetteville, Eureka Springs, Hot Springs, Little Rock and Pulaski County.
Rutledge said Tuesday she thinks it does.
“Act 137 renders unenforceable any ordinance that prohibits discrimination on a basis not already contained in state law,” Rutledge stated in the opinion. “Because current state law does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, it is my opinion that Act 137 renders the five ordinances unenforceable in this respect.”
Fayetteville City Attorney Kit Williams and Little Rock City Attorney Tom Carpenter have both disagreed. They say Act 137 doesn’t prevent cities from offering protections to LGBT residents.
The Arkansas Civil Rights Act of 1993 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, national origin and disability but not based on someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. However, another section of state law dealing with bullying in public schools does mention sexual orientation and gender identity.
Williams and Carpenter concluded, therefore, that those protections have a legal basis and can be included in municipal ordinances.
Rutledge disagreed.
She said in Tuesday’s opinion the anti-bullying statute is not explicitly a nondiscrimination law. Thus, the five cities’ ordinances in question are attempting to prohibit discrimination on a basis not contained in state law.
Williams told Fayetteville City Council members on June 16, when the Uniform Civil Rights Protection ordinance was referred to voters, that he anticipated an attorney general’s opinion.
But, he added, attorney general’s opinion’s aren’t legally binding.
“This is something that really needs to be decided by the courts,” he said. “This is just her opinion, as we have an opinion from the Little Rock city attorney. His opinion’s not conclusive either. Neither is mine. That’s what courts are for.”
Washington County Circuit Judge Doug Martin on Friday is scheduled to hear arguments in a lawsuit claiming Fayetteville’s latest anti-discrimination ordinance should be voided and the Sept. 8 special election should be blocked. One of the claims from Protect Fayetteville, the group opposing Fayetteville anti-discrimination law, is that the ordinance is not valid under Act 137.
In the meantime, early voting continues today through Friday in the County Clerk’s office on the third floor of the Washington County Courthouse, 280 N. College Ave.