And Now The Bad News… Voters in Two Kansas Cities Repeal LGBT Anti-Discrimination Laws

Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore or if we ever actually want to go to it again.

Voters in two Kansas cities, Salina and Hutchinson, repealed gay-inclusive anti-discrimination laws that had been adopted this year by the cities’ governing bodies during Tuesdays elections.

The Salina ordinance was repealed by a vote of 54% to 46%, while the Hutchinson law was voted down by a margin of 58% to 42%.  That leaves Lawrence, Kansas as the ONLY city in the state that has an LGBT-inclusive anti-discrimination law on the books and has since the mid 1990’s.

“It’s clear we have a lot more educating to do,” Jon Powell, chairman of the Hutchinson chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition, an LGBT rights group said in a statement after Tuesdays election.

Local Church and hate groups arguments against the laws included denial that such discrimination exists and assertions that “sexual behavior” is a choice and not a reason for anti-discrimination protections.  An argument that is always lost on me since discrimination against religion is against the law and being religious is most certainly a choice.