News
2006-04-18
Group blocks
Cincinnati antidiscrimination law from taking effect
A group opposing
a Cincinnati ordinance update that extends
discrimination protection to gay people blocked the change
A group opposing
a Cincinnati ordinance update that extends
discrimination protection to gay people blocked the change
from taking effect by asking that the matter go before
voters. Citizens for Community Values said on Friday
they submitted signatures of 14,000 to 15,000 city
residents who want to see the issue placed on the November ballot.
The Hamilton County board of elections must
verify the signatures before the petition can be
accepted. About 7,000 valid signatures would be
required to get the measure on the city ballot.
"This is a very divisive issue, and we voters
ought to have a say," said David Miller, vice
president of public policy for the group, which also
worked for the state's 2004 ban on same-sex marriage.
The group also in 1993 succeeded in getting
voters to pass a charter amendment banning such gay
rights laws, the only such prohibition in the nation.
Voters tossed out the charter amendment in 2004. That
cleared the way for city council's 8–1 vote in
March to add protections for gay and transgender
people to its human rights ordinance, which protects people
from discrimination based on race, gender, age, color,
religion, disability status, marital status, or
ethnic, national, or Appalachian regional origin. The
amended law would have taken effect Monday.
If the latest challenge gets to the ballot, Gary
Wright of Citizens to Restore Fairness will head up a
campaign to persuade voters to keep the revised
ordinance. "The city's really changed, and they don't get
that," Wright said of the petitioners. "They're living in
the past, and they're trying to drag us back with
them. Voters said that already. They'll say that again
this fall." (AP)
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