Subject: Louisville Passes Gay Rights Ordinance
From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 22:33:34 EST

Preliminary report from The Letter - Kentucky's gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender newspaper.  More to come January 27.

LOUISVILLE BOARD OF ALDERMEN PASSES FAIRNESS AMENDMENT

by David Williams, Editor

Louisville (January 26).  The fifth time was a charm.

By a vote of 7-5 this evening, the Louisville Board of Aldermen passed a
measure known as the Fairness Amendment that protects citizens against
discrimination in the workplace on the basis of their sexual orientation or
gender identity.  Two other measures covering housing and public
accommodations were tabled for further discussion but may be resurrected under
aldermanic rules at some point within the next six months.

Newly installed Mayor Dave Armstrong has said he will sign any gay rights
measure passed by the aldermen.

The ordinance is the first city-wide gay rights law in the state of Kentucky
and one of the few in the South.  It's also one of only a handful of laws in
the country that protect citizens on the basis of their gender identity.

Voting in favor of the measure were newly-elected aldermen Tina Ward-Pugh,
Bill Allison, and George Unseld and previous aldermanic supporters Denise
Bentley, Reginald Meeks, and Paul Bather, all of whom are African-American.
Aldermanic president Steve Magre, who had voted against three earlier versions
of the proposal, also supported it.

Key to victory this year came early in the year when Magre, president of the
board, came out publicly in support of the employment proposal.  What made the
difference this time around, he said, were personal testimonials he heard
about employment discrimination faced by Louisvillians.

Another factor in the debate came last fall when the Kentucky Baptist Homes
for Children fired a supervisor because of her sexual orientation.  Alicia
Pedreira had informed her boss of her homosexuality before he hired her.  He
told her that it would be no problem as long as his bosses didn't hear about
it.  When they did, they asked her to resign but she refused, so they fired
her.  Her case drew national attention, and Pedreira became a poster child for
the local Fairness Campaign.

"For over ten years, this community has struggled to achieve justice for our
gay, lesbian, transgendered, and bisexual members," said Dan Farrell, co-
coordinator of the Fairness Campaign.  "Tonight, the Board of Alderman, with
the progressive leadership of the seven aldermen, has taken a major step
toward fulfilling the will of the people and creating a community where all
people are valued, included and protected."

Pam McMichael, a fifteen-year veteran of the local struggle, concurred.  "This
win just affirms what we have always known, that Fairness and our allies have
steadily and diligently changed the hearts of this community," she said.
"Despite the previous amendments being voted down, it has never been about
failure.  It has always been about moving forward and about transformation."

As in previous years, the 1999 debate was marred by accusations from local
religious right leaders that the ordinance would allow pedophiles free reign
in the city.  Besides charging that the proposal gave "special rights to
homosexuals," they worried that the law would be a violation of their First
Amendment rights of religious expression.

Orchestrated by Dr. Frank Simon, Kentucky's leading anti-gay activist, the
campaign against the ordinance included inflammatory radio and tv commercials
which attempted to link gay men to pedophilia.  The ads were aired on several
local religious-oriented radio stations popular in the African-American
community, but they were rejected by all four local television stations.

As a last ditch effort, Rev. Charles Elliot and several other preachers met
with Magre an hour and a half before the vote.  As the noise from pro- and
anti-Fairness demonstrations wafted up from the street, Magre heard them out
but informed them his mind was made up.

The ordinance passed this evening exempts churches and religious
organizations, even if funded in whole or in part by taxpayers.  Ironically,
Alicia Pedreira would not be protected under the new ordinance if she were
still employed at the Baptist agency.  All religious-owned organizations, no
matter the extent of their taxpayer funding, would be exempt.  A previous
version of the 1999 proposal would not have exempted religious organizations
which receive a majority of their funding from taxes.

Gender identity was also narrowed in the final version.  The first version
included individuals going through transition, but the final version only
covers anyone who has already gone through a sex change operation.

"This is, at best, a pyrhic victory for us today," said Angela Bridgman, noted
local transgender activist.  "While I am pleased that gender identity made the
bill, the language was so distorted as to make it cover only post-operative
TS's."

She did feel gratified, on the other hand, that Louisville has gone where
larger cities have feared to tread.  "I have lived in five metro areas bigger,
and more cosmopolitan than Louisville:  Chicago, Orlando, Austin, New York,
and Philadelphia.  None of those cities have gender identity anywhere in their
civil rights bills.  So, on that level, I am amazed that Louisville does."

END