Back in August,?the Fayetteville, AR city council presented and passed a?non-discrimination law?that included language protecting the LGBT community. The ink had not even begun to dry before?it came under attack by the Christian right. Sound familiar? Not only is this fight happening in communities all over the US, it has already happened in this very town?back in 1998. The conservatives?won then?and had the law overturned. Will things be any different this time?
They will if?Keep Fayetteville Fair?has anything to say about it.
KFF?is a coalition of Fayetteville residents standing up for what they believe to be a?basic civil rights law. The opposition has already collected the 5,000 signatures required to put it to a public vote, a vote that will conclude in 27 days. That means KFF’s mission now is to?educate the community on what they?can do to keep it in place.
But?why would something so simple as showing up to vote require education? Because the ballot is a little … well, confusing.
If you select “for,” you are selecting the option to reject the current law. If you select “against”, you are choosing to keep the current law. The way the ballot is worded leaves some people concerned that voters will mistakenly choose the option opposite of what they intend. Anne Shelley, leader of the Keep Fayetteville Fair campaign said:
“…?yes means yes and no means no, and anything other than that is confusing, and frankly does not allow someone to give consent,? said Shelley. ?We want to make sure everyone who votes is really consenting to what they want to say.? – ThinkProgress
The primary complaint by the opposition is that this law will somehow have a negative impact on individual businesses and business in general. Fayetteville’s state level representative, Greg LeDing, had this to say in reply:
“?An inclusive community is an economically prosperous community?…?there have been 200 other cities who have passed similar ordinance and I haven’t heard any stories of businesses that have gone under because of it. In fact, we have Walmart, the largest company in the history of the universe, just up the road in Bentonville and they have a non-discrimination policy.??- ThinkProgress
But the business argument is just a talking point to rally those who may be undecided. The true motivation to overturn this non-discrimination law is seated in fear and hate. Fear of the unknown and hate of something or someone different. Why else try to apply already abolished Jim Crow laws?to the LGBT community?
The last time this particular?battle was fought, it was a different era. Will the modern result be any different? Tell us what you think the comments below or on the Liberal America Facebook page!
