Date: Fri, 28 Apr 1995 17:20:04 -0500 (CDT) From: Kevyn Jacobs To: "Kansas Queer News [KQN]" Subject: UDK: LAWRENCE KANSAS WINS "SEXUAL ORIENTATION" AMENDMENT FROM THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS - LAWRENCE APRIL 26, 1995 ================================ 'EQUAL' WINS ORDINANCE AMENDMENT: Sexual orientation vote passes in 3-2 decision By Sarah Morrison Kansan Staff Writer Lawrence became the first city in Kansas to offer antidiscrimination protection to people on the basis of sexual orientation last night when the city commission voted 3-2 to add the words "sexual orientation" to the city's human relations ordinance. The ordinance prevents discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. The new provision will go into effect next week if it passes a second reading. Mayor Bob Moody said he did not anticipate a change in the voting from the first reading. Ben Zimmerman, co-organizer for Simply Equal, the coalition that proposed the change, said the new ordinance would provide people in the community with legal recourse if they were discriminated against based on their sexual orientation. "The ordinance change sends a very powerful message to people that Lawrence won't tolerate discrimination based on sexual orientation," Zimmerman said. "People who feel they have been discriminated against can now file complaints with the human relations office." For Zimmerman and other Simply Equal members, the vote culminated two years of campaigning and signature collecting to get the commission to make the ordinance change. "I am delighted. It has been a long wait and a lot of hard work," Zimmerman said. Before the vote, about 50 opponents and proponents of the proposal spoke to the commission about the issue. Jo Barnes, former city commission candidate, said she opposed the ordinance because it would legitimize a homosexual lifestyle. "It is a lifestyle that is not natural, not designed to promote the family and not designed for the welfare of our children," Barnes said. "If we give that approval, we are telling children that anything goes." Moody, who voted against the ordinance change, said he worried that the ordinance change might worsen discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals in the community. "If I felt for one minute, for one minute, that the ordinance change would end discrimination, I would vote for it," he said. "But in fact, it may drive the wedge deeper. You can't legislate tolerance, you have to educate against intolerance." Commissioners Jo Andersen, Allen Levine and Vice. Mayor John Nalbandian supported the change. Commissioner Bonnie Augustine and Moody voted against the proposal.