Traverse City Record-Eagle

Region

Related Photos

  • Traverse City resident Flint Horton, left, and Brian Simerson, who's moving to Traverse City from Mesick, are in favor of Traverse City's proposed anti-discrimination ordinance. "This is our civil-rights movement of the '60s," Simerson said. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

    CSS8898.jpg
September 5, 2010

Ordinance would ban discrimination against gays

City commission to discuss proposed anti-discrimination law Tuesday

BY ART BUKOWSKI abukowski@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — A proposed city ordinance that would outlaw discrimination against homosexuals is pretty much a no-brainer to Joel Heady.

Heady, who is gay, works as a manager at the Sunglass Shoppe in downtown Traverse City. He believes such a law is long overdue.

"I feel like I was fighting this issue since I was working downtown in 1984," he said. "Any elementary-level human being with compassion would understand that everyone deserves human rights."

City resident Matt Schoech isn't on board with the proposed ordinance.

"I can't believe that anybody would agree to this ... it's a back-door way of legislating morality from a politically correct viewpoint," he said.

City commissioners meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. and could vote to introduce a nondiscrimination ordinance that would, among other things, make it illegal for employers to discriminate against or fire gay employees just because of their sexual orientation.

If introduced, the ordinance could be given final approval on Oct. 4 after a standard waiting period for new laws.

No existing state or federal law provides such protection for gays, City Manager Ben Bifoss said.

About 20 cities in Michigan, including Ann Arbor, Huntington Woods, Grand Rapids and Lansing, passed similar ordinances in recent years. Traverse City's proposed ordinance, developed by the city Human Rights Commission, was patterned after a 2009 ordinance adopted in Kalamazoo.

Marshall Persky, chairman of the human rights commission, said he and his fellow commissioners saw the need to close the gap in existing law and protect gay individuals. Several people recently approached the commission about creating an ordinance, he said.

"In the state of Michigan, everybody's protected right now, protected on height, weight, certainly color, religion but not sexual orientation ... it just didn't feel right," he said.

The ordinance excludes religious organizations, largely because that's where a lot of opposition to gay rights comes from, Persky said.

"We did a lot of work on understanding what the objections would be to this ... one of the big things was religious issues," he said. "Is it fair to say to the Catholic Church that you have to hire a gay person? We didn't want to go there."

The issue spawned a long-running battle about 10 years ago. Commissioners then passed a watered-down and legally nonbinding "anti-discrimination statement" after months of discussion. Opponents later secured a measure on a city election ballot that sought to prevent the city from passing an anti-discrimination ordinance, but voters soundly defeated that measure in November 2001.

Schoech, who a decade ago opposed the anti-discrimination stance as a human rights commissioner, still wants no part of it. He and other opponents wonder if there's even a need for such an ordinance.

City Commissioner Jim Carruthers, who is gay, for years has wanted to see the city pass such a measure. Discrimination exists, he said, whether some in the public want to believe it or not.

"It's easy for people to say there's no problems when you're not gay," he said. "A lot of people get discriminated against, but they don't report it because there's no real avenue to report it, and people don't feel comfortable reporting these situations."

Between 16 and 68 percent of gay and bisexual individuals reported employment discrimination, according to a 2007 study by the UCLA School of Law.

Persky and Carruthers said the issue has implications beyond protecting gay rights. Tourism stands to see a boost if the city is made more gay-friendly, they said.

"It's not just the ordinance, it's not just gay rights, it's really: What kind of place do we want to live?" Persky said. "Do we want to be a progressive city?"

"I think it's hugely important as a gay man, and for the gay community, because we as a community are saying we're willing to stand behind our residents and our visitors and our tourists," Carruthers said. "We're saying we're not going to discriminate, and I think it's important to let people know that."

Part-time Central Neighborhood resident Cheryl Thomas, 65, hopes the ordinance passes.

Gays "are human beings just like us, for God's sake," she said. "I have no problems working with them, next to them, for them."

The ordinance could face a challenge before and after it's approved, if it is at all. Gary Glenn, president of Midland-based American Family Association of Michigan, said his organization will help, if needed. AFAM fought the city's efforts in 2001.

"We stand ready to assist the citizens of Traverse City if they choose to do so," Glenn said.

Text Only

Life

Sports

Business

Record-Eagle+ Subscribe
Sign In