Will Topeka, Kansas give everyone equal rights?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Ah, Topeka, the home of Brown vs. the Board of Education and of Fred Phelps. But it’s also my beloved home and that is why I have become, somewhat mildly, an activist.

This Tuesday evening, 9/10/02, during our City Council Meeting, there will be a vote on a proposed amendment to the existing city ordinance that bans discrimination in housing , work, etc, on the basis of race, religion, age, ethnicity, and so on. It has been proposed that sexual orientation and gender identity be added to the ordinance. As the law now stands I could, if I wished, refuse to rent to, or employ someone, simply on the basis that they are GLBT. This sort of bigotry, in my eyes, is an abomination. As a Christian, I truly believe that God made us whatever we are, that we all have His love and acceptance, and that it is scandalous to hate others based on something that is beyond their power to change.

There are nine council members and the ordinance needs five votes to pass. So far there are four confirmed “yes” votes, one confirmed abstention(the weasel), one confirmed “no” vote, and three are currently “undecided”
We need one of the “undecided” badly, and many groups, both pro and con to the amendment, have been gathering support in the form of calls and emails. This Council is in the public eye and several members are squirming. They care more about appearances and the status of *being * a Council member, than they do about making firm decisions.

Soooooooo, if you all feel the urge, let’s put them in the public eye and let them know that people from all over are watching! If you want the email address of the Topeka City Council let *me * know by email. You could send a polite and positive message that eyes from all over are watching, and, hopefully, expecting them to do the right thing!

I spoke at Council last week, and it continues to boggle me as to how people can look down their noses at a whole class of people. I mean, I expected the whole Phelps crew to be there, and they were. But there were also many folks who while specifically disassociating themselves from Phred also quoted Scripture to talk about the “sinfullness” of gays. And of course several used the old tired lies/statistics to try and link homosexuality with pedophilia. But there were powerful and eloquent speakers in SUPPORT of the amendment(I was a speaker but not of their caliber!)

In a little over 48 hours I expect to be back here and either celebrating or crying. If it’s the latter though I don’t want to despair. This amendment **will ** pass, if not now then later!

2

Topeka? Who would have thunk?

Good luck and happy hammering…

3

Good luck, Baker

4

So I did a little research this morning and I pulled up a few quotes from Supreme court cases that might be helpful in the debate.
Also, I thought it would be, well, somewhat fun and interesting to make a speech at the City counsel’s meeting.
Is this allowed Baker if I’m not a resident of Lawrence? What’s the procedure for doing something like this? How much time would the floor grant me?

5

So I did a little research this morning and I pulled up a few quotes from Supreme court cases that might be helpful in the debate.
Also, I thought it would be, well, somewhat fun and interesting to make a speech at the City counsel’s meeting.
Is this allowed Baker if I’m not a resident of Topeka? What’s the procedure for doing something like this? How much time would the floor grant me?

6

**Ender, ** the time limit for speaking will, in all probability, be four minutes. That’s how long speakers in the “public comments” that come at the end of council meetings, have. This is not quite the same, our comments will come during the meeting and after council debate on the subject. After the comments the public will vote. I am not sure about a non-Topeka resident speaking, but when I called to sign up they didn’t ask where I was from. Usually though, at the beginning of one’s statements, one must state where their residence is. If you can speak it would let those on the council who are waffling know that other eyes are on them. (Thank heavens my council person has already stated his support for the amendment!) You can call, or the email for the City Council is at www.topeka.org. At work today I heard from a person who has been active in support of the amendment, that so far 60 people have signed up to speak. If they all take four minutes that’s a lot of time. Going to be an interesting evening. There will be a rally for the amendment starting at 6:00PM on the south steps of the Capitol Building. From there we will march to the Council meeting.

7

I looked at the list. There are a LOT of things being discussed. Most of them are mundane rezoning issues but this meeting could take quite awhile, I’m sure.
It took me awhile to find the provision we’re discussing. It’s very well hidden. Making it unlawful to commit “certain crimes.” Wow. How much more vague can you get?

But I just signed up. They said there were 45 ahead of me already and while they normally give 4 minutes apiece, they may cut it down to 2 minutes per because of the overwhelming response.
This should be fun!

8

I just emailed the following message to the email address at the website. I figure you are right. A little interest from the outside world sometimes give people the courage to act on their beliefs, and not what Uncle Fred will think.:

Dear Council Members:

It is my understanding that you will be having a vote at your Tuesday meeting regarding civil rights.
It is a pleasure to see that, despite the rampant hate spread by Fred Phelps in the name of Topeka, you have the courage to show that your city is NOT full of bigots.

I look forward to seeing the final tally of votes!

9

**DMark, ** thanks for the support!

**Ender, ** hate to say it but you may have signed up for the wrong one. If you will look at it again, there are actually two items, one a “hate crimes” ordinance that is new, and the other an amendment to an already existing ordinance. They are equally important of course, but the one causing the most fuss is the amended one. Thanks for the “heads up” about the time issue! I am going to email that to some people right away because it might seriously affect their remarks.

Thanks to everyone for thinking of us!

10

I signed up for 5A, which I can’t seem to access right now to determine exactly what it was refering to. The person I talked to over the phone was the one who said “you want 5A, right?” and I can’t imagine that there would be a huge line to speak for two different policies. That would be a tad bit of bad planning on their part.
Nevertheless, I shall check tomorrow to make sure.
Now…I guess I just need to know if there will be room if I arrive late (probably not) and directions off I-70.

11

Where do you equate refusal to rent to someone with “hate?”

If I were a landlord you can bet your butt I would discriminate like crazy! I’d refuse to rent to nasty people, drug addicts, people with bad credit, etc. If you rent to any Tom Dick and Harry that comes down the pike you’re going to have to sink a lot of money into your property when they’re gone because it will be torn up.

12

Should I even ask why you’d put GBLT persons in the same category as “nasty people, drug addicts, people with bad credit” when I’m not expecting any kind of reasonable reply …?

Good luck tonight, Baker. Keep us posted.

13

Let’s see-how would you KNOW if they’re “Nasty” or “drug addicts?”

Besides, what does sexual orientation have to do with it being “torn up?”

:rolleyes:

14

Perhaps it isn’t necessarily hate. If someone refuses to rent to someone based solely on the fact that they are GLBT, it could be because they hate GLBTs or because they are merely ignorant of GLBTs.

15

I think you are misunderstanding her. WV_Woman is saying that a landlord might choose not to rent to groups of people because they are risks to the property, not because he hates those groups. Of course homosexual and transgendered people would not be a greater risk to the property than any other tenant, so a landlord who discriminates on this basis is either ignorant or hateful.

16

**Ender, ** take the 10th street exit off of I-70. Go west on 10th to Kansas Avenue. Turn right(north) onto Kansas Avenue. Go two block to 8th street and turn right again(you will be going east). It’s just one block to Quincy. 8th and Quincy is the southwest corner of the Topeka Performing Arts Center, and the City Council Chambers are in the south end of the building. You won’t be able to miss it. If it’s like last week the cops will have it blocked off already from parking. There is a rally at 6:00PM on the south steps of the Capitol Building if you end up being able to get there early. The Capitol is on 10th. Kepp on going west on 10th when you exit and you can’t miss it, it’s just a few blocks further on from Kansas Avenue.

**WV_Woman, ** I’m going to try and explain something. I’ll use little words so you can understand. Did you read all of the preceding posts? If you did, then you will see that there are two items being voted on. One is a hate crimes ordinance. But the other is amendment to a law that already is in place. This seeks to add sexual orientation to things that may not be used to discriminate against people when they are seeking employment, a place to live, and so on. The amendment is needed because as of now I could refuse to hire, or I could fire, someone from a job just because they are gay. I could tell them they couldn’t rent my apartment for the same reason. As an experienced landlady I can tell you that that is not the same thing as refusing to rent to problem tenants, such as druggies or people with a bad credit history. It *would * be the same thing as refusing to rent to someone because they are black, or female(something they can’t change) Do you get it now?

Thanks to everyone else for their support. I will keep you all posted.

17

As I write these words it is almost 3:00AM local time. I just got back from the longest City Council meeting there has ever been. The hate crimes ordinance did pass, but the amendment to the city anti-discrimination ordinance did not. I was very disappointed but I believe that it will come someday. Maybe next year, or the year after, but it wll ccome.

It’s just hard to hear all the so-called “justification” for not giving someone equal rights. I’m a straight white female, so one could say that I’m okay, but if some lack equal rights I think we all do. Oh well, I will post more late, but now I am going to try and get an hour and a half of sleep before I have to get up for work. Thanks to Ender who attended and spoke to the issue of hate crimes. I could hear his talk(more on why later) but I saw his notes and they were great.

18

You know the ironic thing? Despite speaking on behalf of the hate crime bill, I really didn’t care whether that one passed or not. I was firmly against discrimination in housing and yet my message was equally applicable to both: vote not on what the Bible tells you, but rather what the Constitution does. Vote on what is best for this city and not what some people may tell you is best for God. I wanted to get that message in as soon as possible and waiting for the discrimination bill would have literally meant waiting an additional 3 hours to speak.

On that subject, I don’t think that I did the greatest job in speaking. I don’t think I convinced anyone. It’s not that I’m not good at public speaking, it’s just that I’m extremely out of practice with it. Alas.

The interesting part of the evening was a one to two hour discussion with a UPS man. He believed in God. He believed in Jesus. He “found” the Lord at age 20 and all was right with the world. All in all he was kind, respectful, and interesting to talk to and debate theology.

Oh yeah, he also thought the Bible was unquestionably right from begining to end and homosexuals were sinful. It’s strange how a few simple opinions can change your entire outlook on who a person really is.

I didn’t change the UPS man’s mind. He didn’t change mine. I didn’t change the city counsel’s mind (singular…I think there was only one in the group). They didn’t change mine.
But I got invovled in the democratic process and that was cool. I think I should start going to more of these types of meetings here in Lawrence.

Thanks, Baker for telling me about it.