It appears that Ypsilanti residents will be voting next year on whether to remove discrimination protection for homosexuals from their city charter. Officials Friday verified 728 signatures of 1,162 on a petition calling for a vote to eliminate the charter stipulation. Allegations that some of the signatures were gathered illegally are still being investigated. [...] In 1998, Yulle's group challenged the city's nondiscrimination ordinance. The question was turned down by 56 percent of the voters. That year, the question was whether to strike down the entire ordinance. This time, supporters say the charter amendment would only impact one part, the section based on sexual orientation.
Granted that I'm mildly astonished that Ypsilanti added such a statement to their charter in the first place. I would still expect this emendation to succeed, where simply striking the ordinance is bigotry too blatant for most people to stomach. After all, the ordinance as a whole was only sustained by a 6-percent margin; many will feel fewer qualms about striking just that portion.
And the events of the past week should leave few doubts about the extent of bigotry possible in this country.
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
Search entries:
12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!