Lincoln's so-called "Fairness Ordinance" won't see the ballot any time soon. A quick recap: the City Council passed the ordinance, which expands local anti-discrimination protection to gays, lesbians, and the transgendered, a couple months ago. A subsequent petition drive got enough signatures to either nullify the ordinance or put it to a vote. City officials promised to put it to a vote.
Eventually.
For some reason Carl Eskridge, who sponsored the original ordinance, seems to be the one in the driver's seat. It's pretty obvious that he won't put it on the ballot until he thinks it can win, and apparently Mayor Beutler is set to go along with his wishes. That's going to come across as dirty politics to many Lincolnites. And for good reason; it is dirty politics, at least from the perspective of those who oppose the ordinance. Those on the other end of things probably prefer a term more like "common sense".
One of the reasons the issue won't appear on November's ballot is -- supposedly -- the recent (alleged) vicious assault a local gay woman. What a convoluted tale that is! I'm not sure I follow how that event relates to a fall vote. Is the argument that people who think the event never happened will "retaliate" against the LGBT community by voting against the ordinance? That seems like a weird leap to me. Then again, voters are weird. (I learned that early and often while pursuing my degree in political science.) Ultimately, delaying the vote will only partially blunt the impact of the (alleged) assault. You can bet your booty that it'll come up again and again as the vote nears.
For now I guess we sit back and wait. I can't say I'm crazy about that idea.
Comments
See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.
This comment is not meant to be considered pro-ordinance or anti-ordinance. I’m not interested in arguing or name calling…
If the reasoning is that he doesn’t want it on a ballot unless he thinks it can win, I don’t think it will ever be on a ballot. Or, in other words, even if Carl thinks it can win, I have my doubts that it can ever win in Lincoln. At least not any time soon. That’s just my opinion.
And win or lose, it would be terribly divisive to the community. I think it would be very harmful (hopefully not physically) to people on both sides of the debate.
As can be seen from the Presidential election, this is already shaping up to be an ugly campaign season. I’d already like for it to be done, and I once upon a time really enjoyed politics.
Someone commented to me the other day that Tony Horton was on the Today show, and this person remarked how nice it was that he was very non-partisan. Duh. Of course he was.
If every single topic or every single decision starts from the standpoint of partisanship (on either side), my brain may explode. Some things don’t have to be that way, ever. I kind of like the olden days when you could eat or not eat a place for lunch due to whether you like/dislike the food, and not because of the politics of an owner/manager/etc.
Let’s just all get along, and go back to agreeing to hate anyone that overwaters their lawn.
Share your thoughts with the community.
Commenting is no longer permitted on this post.