[Vision2020] Anchorage Assembly Passes Gay Rights Ordinance

[Tom Hansen]

Anchorage, Alaska surpasses Moscow, Idaho in civil rights.

As Moscow failed to pass a gender identity non-discrimination policy back
on March 9, 2009 (courtesy of nay-sayers BIll Lamebert, Walter Krauss,
John Steed, Dan Carscallen, and mayoral candidate John Weber) . . .

http://www.moscowcares.com/030209_06_PropGenderIDNonDiscrimPol.htm

Anchorage, Alaska did pass such an ordinance.

Courtesy of the Anchorage Daily News at:

http://tinyurl.com/nl8wre

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Assembly passes gay rights ordinance
COMPROMISE: Exemptions for religious organizations written into the ban on
discrimination.

By a 7-4 vote, the Anchorage Assembly Tuesday approved a compromise
ordinance that bans discrimination in Anchorage on the basis of sexual
orientation and gender identity.

The vote capped two months of public meetings on a controversial issue
that has engaged the community for a generation. The Assembly itself
debated for most of an hour Tuesday, displaying emotion and passion not
often seen in the chambers.

The majority falls one vote short of reaching the 8-vote supermajority
needed to override a mayoral veto. Mayor Dan Sullivan said before the vote
he had not decided if he would take that step. He has seven days to
decide.

Assemblyman Patrick Flynn authored the successful compromise, which had
the support of Matt Claman, Elvi Gray-Jackson, Jennifer Johnston, Mike
Gutierrez, Sheila Selkregg and vice-chairwoman Harriet Drummond. Chair
Debbie Ossiander and members Chris Birch, Bill Starr and Dan Coffey
opposed.

Flynn's proposal sought to protect the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals
and transgendered people to employment, credit, public accommodations and
housing free from discrimination. It also spelled out exemptions for
churches and other religious organizations.

Selkregg said Flynn's version of the ordinance was "an effort to respect
the religious community" that packed the Assembly's chambers to oppose the
proposal. "It allows churches to choose who they hire" in a manner
consistent with their religious beliefs, she said.

Birch and Starr said they had not been convinced that discrimination
against gays and lesbians is a problem in Anchorage. "I don't see signs
that say, 'No Gays Allowed,' " Starr said.

"We have a tolerant and diverse community that generally gets along," he
said.

After the vote, Jackie Buckley, an organizer of Equality Works, a group
that pushed for passage, said she was "very glad that the Assembly has
seen there is a problem" that needed to be addressed.

"It was a clear majority," she said. "We hope the mayor will do the right
thing."

The Rev. Jerry Prevo, a leading opponent of this and similar proposals
since the 1970s, said he was "pleasantly surprised" that Ossiander, the
Assembly's chair, had voted against Flynn's compromise. Ossiander had been
thought to be a likely yes vote, but said Tuesday night the ordinance
didn't go far enough in protecting people and went too far in other ways.

Flynn and Selkregg inserted a provision in the ordinance to ensure it
protected employer's rights to enforce workplace rules and allow them to
maintain "gender segregated restrooms."

But Ossiander said she worried that the ordinance might lead to businesses
having to create special facilities.

"My reading on this is that businesses could be required to have unisex
bathrooms," Ossiander said.

Several vocal opponents of the proposal had argued it would allow
transgendered men to use women's restrooms, something that several claimed
to have seen already in local stores and the Loussac Library.

Like other members, Ossiander's explanation of her vote was sometimes
emotional.

"In the course of the last two months, I've come to the belief that there
are some citizens that need more protection than we're giving them," she
said.

"I have worried about this vote for two months," she said. "We need to
treat each other well in this world, and we don't."

Several members who voted yes brought up friends or acquaintances who were
special to them, and gay. In Flynn's case, it was a mailman who served
Flynn's childhood home for years.

"Glenn ... was a terrific guy," Flynn said. "He was a true public servant."

But, Flynn said, the mailman moved from Anchorage to a city in North
Carolina that he considered more tolerant.

Johnston mentioned a person close to her whose "life (was) cut short by
suicide."

She also mentioned David Rose, the first Assembly chairman after
unification, who championed the first efforts in 1976 to protect gays from
discrimination in Anchorage. The Assembly passed that first ordinance, but
it was vetoed by then Mayor George Sullivan, Dan's father.

Because of Rose's "memory and this other very special person, I am going
to be voting in favor of this ordinance," Johnston said.

Gray-Jackson said she was encouraged by the long, difficult hours of pubic
testimony on the ordinance. It brought into the political discourse many
parts of the community who ordinarily don't turn out for Assembly
meetings, she said.

"Equal rights is just so important to me, and I believe in equal rights
for everyone"

She urged her colleagues "to simply do the right thing and allow all of us
to live in this community without discrimination."

Earlier, the Assembly opened debate with Assemblyman Coffey's resolution
to set up a task force on the issue. It was clear Coffey lacked the votes
for his resolution, which would have put off a policy change till sometime
in the future.

Coffey said he authored the resolution in an attempt to find a common
understanding of how to proceed, "not with any intent to delay or defer"
consideration of the issue.

"I don't think I achieved my goal," he said.

Other members said they felt an obligation to debate and act on the issue,
not just put the decision off for more than a year.

Coffey's resolution failed, and the panel took up the substitute ordinance
authored by Flynn.

The debate on the civil rights issue began on June 9. In the measure, the
Assembly took on one of the most controversial issues ever to face the
body -- whether to ban discrimination in Anchorage on the basis of sexual
orientation.

As far as specific measures, the Assembly had a broad menu to choose from,
including four versions of the original ordinance and separate proposals
to put the issue on the ballot as charter amendments next spring.

Supporters of the anti-discrimination measure, many wearing blue, and
opponents, wearing red, were scattered through the Assembly chambers.

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Seeya at Palouse Pride, Moscow (except for, maybe, BIll Lamebert, Walter
Krauss, John Steed, Dan Carscallen, and mayoral candidate John Weber).

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"I believe all Americans who believe in freedom, tolerance and human
rights have a responsibility to oppose bigotry and prejudice based on
sexual orientation."

- Coretta Scott King