Council rejects ordinance on gays

The Omaha City Council on Tuesday voted down a proposed ordinance to give new protections to gays and lesbians.

The measure failed on a 3-3 vote. Councilman Franklin Thompson, who has called for a public vote on the issue, abstained.

Councilmen Ben Gray, Pete Festersen and Chris Jerram voted in favor of the ordinance; Jean Stothert, Garry Gernandt and Thomas Mulligan were opposed.

Gray, author of the ordinance, proposed that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people be a protected class under city code — protection they don't currently have under state or federal law.

He amended the proposal to exclude religious organizations, but members of the Omaha business community also opposed the ordinance.

The council held a public hearing Tuesday on Thompson's proposal to put the issue to a public vote, in the form of an amendment to the City Charter. The vote on Thompson's measure is expected next week.

“I find it offensive that we would equate this with civil rights,” Pastor Cedric Perkins, pastor of Pilgrim Baptist Church said. “Those rights were based upon a person's color of their skin, which they could not change.”

One woman asked the council to approve Gray's proposal and not put the matter up for a public vote. She said she has been fired for being gay.

Addressing council members, she said the situation was “no different than you being fired for being white, you being fired for being black and you being fired for being a woman.”

The existing city ordinance already includes language prohibiting bias based on race, color, creed, religion, sex, marital status, national origin, age and disability.

Gray's ordinance would allow homosexual and transgender residents who believe they have been fired or suffered other workplace discrimination, or have been refused service at a restaurant, hotel or other place that serves the public, to file a complaint with Omaha's Human Rights and Relations Department, Assistant City Attorney Bernard in den Bosch has said.


(2010-10-27/omaha)