Traverse City Record-Eagle

Election 2011

October 31, 2011

Our view: Vote 'yes' on Proposal 1

----

A year ago, the Traverse City commission unanimously approved an anti-discrimination ordinance that extended basic civil rights protections based on gender, race and religion to sexual orientation. In other words, it was no longer OK to discriminate against someone in work or housing just because he or she was gay.

Since then, the walls of Jericho have not tumbled down, businesses have not been held hostage by militant gays, people have not been forced to rent rooms in their house to a homosexual.

In other words, none of the catastrophes predicted by pro-discrimination forces if the ordinance passed have some to pass. And they won't if voters uphold it Nov. 8.

Arguments that employers won't be able to fire bad employees who happen to be gay are eyewash. In reality, those people can be fired just as easily as anyone else, but not if their only fault is being gay or, for that matter, if their only fault is being black or female or a Mormon or a Roman Catholic.

For the most part, though, the pro-discrimination forces who put the issue on the ballot have relied on an old and tired assertion: that extending basic civil rights to include sexual orientation would somehow give gays "special rights." What that means isn't clear, but it makes for a snappy slogan.

The truth, though, is what these folks are really peddling is fear, fear of people they don't understand and of a lifestyle they want to somehow punish. They feel threatened and want the law to let them exclude gays or at least keep them at arm's length. They want everyone else to endorse their pro-discrimination mindset and make it OK to ostracize someone because that person is different from them.

It's despicable and has no place here. Vote "yes" Nov. 8 to retain the ordinance.

Editor's note: The wording on Proposal 1 could be confusing to voters, so here's a simple rule: Think of it as a referendum on discrimination, which is really what it is. To ban discrimination, vote "yes."

Text Only