Thought that would get your attention.
Last night, Tuesday, our Topeka City Council was supposed to vote on amending various city ordinances. Laws already say that you can’t discriminate in hiring/firing, or housing, based on race, religion, ethnicity, and so on, and sexual orientation was up for addition to the list.
This got voted down by the Council two years ago, but a new Councilperson, plus a former supporter, got it reintroduced.
Since we are the town that Fred Phelps calls home, he created antoher big stink, along with a lot of pointy headed fundies who started screaming about how this would create special rights for gays.
You can read about it here, but you have to register. It’s worth it I think, but it’s up to you. www.cjonline.com It’s the lead article in Wednesday’s paper.
A few choice bits. Of the eighty or so folks who signed up for public comments on the issue, the first twenty or so were Phelps’. Several people got called for violating speaking rules.
One pastor didn’t even say gays or homosexuals, he called them all “sodomites”, said he thought most people in Topeka didn’t welcome them, and suggested they all move to France. ???
I didn’t think it was possible for our City Council to be even more wussy than before, or to be able to piss off people on BOTH sides of the issue, but I was wrong. They watered down the change to have only city hiring included, and then voted that in. So the folks I supported(two) on Council caved, and ticked off those who wanted equal rights for all. And the bigots are pissed that even that small bone was tossed.
So now five Council people can pat themselves on the back and say “Lookee! We passed non-discrimination in city hiring!” and think they[ve done something major. Better than nothing but I wouldn’t crow about it.
So in Topeka you can still get denied housing or private industry hiring, based solely on whom you go to bed with. :mad:
