by Jessica Carreras
The Kalamazoo ordinance set to protect LGBT people from discrimination within the city was once again approved unanimously by the City Commission on June 29 – but that didn't settle the debate over the legislation that has been raging for over six months.
Opponents of the expansion, collectively named Kalamazoo Citizens Voting No to Special Rights Discrimination, now have until July 29 to collect another 1,274 petition signatures to send the measure to public vote – and they intend to do just that.
The legislation would expand the city's list of traits protected from discrimination in such areas as employment and housing to include sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Originally approved by the City Commission in December, petition signatures gathered by an opposition led by Gary Glenn and the American Family Association forced the commission to rescind the ordinance on January 12.
Since then, it has been a back and forth battle for months between supporters, led by the Kalamazoo Alliance for Equality, and opponents, fronted largely by Kalamazoo County Treasurer Mary Balkema.
Several new players have come onto the scene since December. The Citizens Voting No group now holds in its ranks Charles Ybema, a Republican who ran for State Representative in Kalamazoo last year, but lost to longstanding Democrat Rep. Robert Jones. Ybema told http://www.Mlive.com last month that the ordinance lays the groundwork for "reverse discrimination" and "suppressing information."
On the supporting side, KAFE requested guidance from Jon Hoadley, executive director of national LGBT activism group Stonewall Democrats. However, despite recent claims that Hoadley would be taking over the effort, Media Coordinator Shawn Brier said that's just not true. "This is all being handled locally, with local talent. We have asked for some help … but that's what (the Stonewall Democrats) do anyway – they go from state to state, community to community, and help on issues like this."
Brier explained that Hoadley's main purpose would be to guide KAFE in their fight for the ordinance. "(He'll be helping) by providing his expertise, because he's had experience doing ballot initiatives before," he said. "He can help us plan on what to expect next and that sort of thing."
Meanwhile, while each side was organizing their ranks, the City Commission encouraged open discussion of the issue by the public. In the months between the ordinance's two approvals, the commission held subcommittee meetings each month on the issue, as well as accepted e-mails, letters and phone calls on the issue from Kalamazoo residents.
"The City Commission … wanted to make sure there was a very strong open public communication forum for hearing pros and cons from both sides of the issue," explained Brier. "They wanted to know what opponents thought of the ordinance; they wanted to see if there was some kind of compromise language to come up with."
And several compromises were made, including removal of a section that addressed proper use of bathrooms by sex, and a statement that "everything that's already illegal is still legal," said Brier. "That's to address any criminal concerns, like somebody lurking in a bathroom or something like that."
The former was removed due to the fact that Michigan law already addresses the issue of people using bathrooms appropriate to their sex.
The most major change involved religious institutions. The ordinance approved in December claimed exemption for "churches." The version approved June 29 elaborated on that to include all religious-based organizations, said Brier, such as Kalamazoo homeless shelter The Gospel Mission, parochial schools and The Salvation Army.
This would mean, for example, that such groups could refuse to hire someone for a job based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. However, Brier said that KAFE is not concerned with the exemption. "We understood that, and it's not our wish or desire to tell churches how they have to behave. That's up to them," he said. "That's not what this is about. This is just about housing, public accommodation and employment."
Still, opponents have not been swayed, and vowed to collect the necessary signatures in hopes to turn the ordinance to a public vote in November's election. The deadline for submitting issues to appear in that election is Aug. 25.
But Brier said KAFE already has a plan to combat them. "Right now we are putting together a pro-ordinance signature campaign," he explained. "We're trying to show that people in the city of Kalamazoo are supportive of the ordinance."
The plan is to match every opponent's signature with two from supporters – meaning they'll need to collect around 2,500 signatures. Brier claimed: "We're pretty confident that we'll be able to do that."
The signatures won't have any legal value, but Brier believes they will stand as proof to the City Commission that if the ordinance does go to vote, it will be passed easily.
Until then, the fight for the ordinance's approval will continue – and Brier hopes to spread word quickly about the city's fight for equality. "Honestly, The general community I think doesn't even know this is going on," he admitted. " There seems to be a general apathy in the LGBT community. Maybe they don't see the discrimination in their own lives. But I guarantee you that within the next couple of months, they are going to know what's going on."
