Subject: (LAWRENCE, KS, USA) Heterosexist petition drive misses deadline Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1996 16:18:03 -0600 From: kevyn@KSUVM.KSU.EDU (Kevyn Jacobs) (by way of kevyn@ksu.edu (Kevyn Jacobs)) To: kevyn@KSUVM.KSU.EDU To whom it may concern: Attached please find a post regarding a local battle over the inclusion of sexual orientation in the human relations ordinance in the city of Lawrence, Kansas. Please feel free to adapt this information or forward it as you see fit; however, if you print it word for word I'd like to be credited for it. This was originally sent out to the email list of the queer student organization at the University of Kansas, which I administer. Thank you! --------------------------------------------------------------------- As you may have already known, a group representing the far right of the local Republican party in Lawrence has been working since August to collect signatures on a petition to hold a local referendum on removing the words "sexual orientation" from the Lawrence Human Relations Ordinance. The words were added last April by a 3-2 vote of the city commission following several years of work by a local coalition known as Simply Equal. "Simply Equal" has also become sort of a nickname for the amendment, which allows people of ANY sexual orientation legal recourse if they have been discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation in housing, employment, or public accommodations. The people circulating the petition were hoping to get the amendment repealed, which would make discrimination based on sexual orientation legal again in Lawrence. So here's what has happened: in order to get a referendum on the ballot in a local election, Kansas statutes require that signatures be collected on the petitions for a period of no longer than 180 days. The group circulating the so-called "anti-special-rights" petition made a very public announcement of the start of their petition drive on August 26 (not APRIL 26, as the _University Daily Kansan_ printed in its coverage today, which was otherwise pretty accurate), when they held a meeting at the county fairgrounds to kick off their petition drive (a meeting at which, not surprisingly, illegal voter registration is widely reported to have occurred; however, no charges have been filed in connection with this). Yesterday - February 21 - marked the 180th day from the start of their petition drive, and the deadline passed without petitions being turned in to the city. Because of this, the entire petition drive is now legally null and void. In _Telegraphics_, a Lawrence right-wing independent newspaper, John Watkins - the leader of the petition drive - claims that they decided not to submit the petitions because the recent cancellation of the April presidential primary in Kansas, which the referendum would have been attached to, would have caused the city to have to go to the expense of a special election on the issue. A special election, which would cost the city $10 to 12,000, would certainly make the referendum proponents look bad, seeing as how one of their big selling points is their claim that the amendment is going to cost the city a great deal of money to enforce. (By the way, the only thing Simply Equal has cost the city since being passed in April is a modest amount they've spent in educating the public about the ordinance, and no money at all has had to be spent on enforcing it). It is clear to anyone with half a brain that the REAL reason they didn't submit a petition, however, is that they failed to collect the 2,852 signatures needed to get a referendum. In the _Telegraphics_ article, Watkins claims to have 2,000 signatures and that petitions are still "pouring in"; of course he wants the public to think that they have more support for their ill-conceived referendum than they actually do. Unfortunately, these folks can't seem to get it through their heads that the majority of people of Lawrence have now made it clear TWICE that they support equal rights for ALL people - once by electing city commission candidates who supported equal rights and demonstrated that by passing the ordinance change in April, and now once again by refusing to sign their names to this heterosexist and misleading petition. How many times will we have to prove to these people that our city wants to continue its proud heritage of being a forerunner for civil rights in the state of Kansas? Watkins says they plan to start a whole new petition drive, in the hopes of getting a referendum on the issue on the ballot for the August election. My personal hope is that every time they start to bring this up again, the citizens of Lawrence will grow more and more sick of their tired, inaccurate, and misleading claims. Some people just don't know reality when it smacks them in the face. The very idea that people should be able to VOTE on who gets equal rights and who doesn't continues to amaze me. I will keep you all posted of the news on this as it continues to unfold. Sincerely, Chris Hampton LesBiGayS-OK Email Coordinator -- ____~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ \ / Lesbian, Bisexual, and Gay Services of Kansas (KU) ~ \/ Co-Directors: Samantha Korshin & Joe Cuevas ~ ~ Email Coordinator: Chris Hampton * lbgsok@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu ~ ~ 400 Kansas Union Box 13 * Lawrence, KS 66045 * (913) 864-3091 ~ ~ Check out our homepage! http://ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu/~lbgsok ~ ~ "Every act of visibility is an act of resistance."-Suzanne Pharr ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~