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Drive for Repeal Vote on Omaha Nondiscrimination Law Falls Short

Drive for Repeal Vote on Omaha Nondiscrimination Law Falls Short

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Opponents of the city's LGBT rights ordinance failed to gather enough petition signatures to put a repeal measure before voters in May.

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A petition drive to put a repeal of Omaha's LGBT-inclusive antidiscrimination ordinance before voters in May has come up short, organizers said Thursday.

"The Omaha Liberty Project, sponsor of the petition effort, needed to submit roughly 11,400 valid resident signatures to the city today to potentially force a vote in May's general election," the Omaha World-Herald reported Friday.

Patrick Bonnett, the group's executive director, said organizers didn't gather enough signatures to leave a cushion for possibly invalid ones. "We've got to be pretty darn close to the number we need," he told the World-Herald. "Darn close, but we just didn't get it." He said the group plans to try again, although next year would be the earliest a measure could go before voters.

The City Council passed the ordinance, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in employment or public accommodations, by a 5-4 vote last March. A public hearing on the ordinance last year saw testimony from about 100 people, including University of Nebraska assistant football coach Ron Brown, who opposed it, and filmmaker Alexander Payne (The Descendants, Sideways), an Omaha native, who supported it.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.