Topeka Narrowly Outlaws Anti - Gay Bias
By AP from the NYTimes on the Web, November 23, 2004
TOPEKA, Kan. -- Kansas is as conservative as any state, but its capital city has taken a small step toward protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination.
The Topeka City Council last week narrowly approved an ordinance prohibiting bias in city hiring or employment based on sexual orientation.
Many activists were disappointed, hoping the council would enact a broader ordinance against discrimination in housing, lending and private employment.
Yet a few took some comfort in the small progress they did perceive.
Part of it was timing. The vote on Nov. 16 came two weeks after President Bush carried Kansas with 62 percent of the vote and during an election when 11 states approved constitutional bans on gay marriage.
"We've just come out of an election that was very bruising to the gay
community," said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
"This small step by the Topeka City Council just shows that we are going to keep making
progress."
But opponents of any gay rights ordinance saw approval of only a narrow change -- on a 5-4 council vote -- as a significant victory.
Still, some worry the new ordinance is a step toward governmental acceptance of homosexuality.
"I wonder if it's just not the camel's nose under the tent," said Francis Slobodnik, manager of the Topeka-area office of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, an organization for Roman Catholics.
Topeka is actually one of many cities in states that went for Bush that have approved local gay rights ordinances.
Others include Salt Lake City; Baton Rouge, La.; and Louisville, Ky.
And despite losing the 11 marriage votes, gay-rights groups found a few heartening signs in the Nov. 2 election results.
In Massachusetts all incumbent legislators who supported equal treatment for same-sex couples won re-election.
In Cincinnati, voters repealed the nation's only city ban on laws supporting gay rights.
Idaho and North Carolina voters elected their first openly gay legislators, and an openly gay Hispanic woman, Lupe Valdez, was elected county sheriff in Dallas.
Topeka became only the third local Kansas government with a policy against discrimination over sexual orientation, according to Foreman.
Lawrence, home to the University of Kansas, prohibits bias in housing and private employment.
Shawnee County, where Topeka is located, bans discrimination in county employment.
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