City Council Rescinds LGBTQ Anti-Discrimination Law 4 Months After Passage

LINCOLN, NEB — (06-14-22) — Nebraska’s capital city sent shockwaves through the state on Monday when the City Council rescinded an anti-discrimination measure that extended protections to sexual orientation and gender identity, just four months after unanimously approving the measure.

The Lincoln City Council voted 4-3 Monday to rescind the February revision to the city’s fairness ordinance in the face of another successful petition launched by a conservative group aimed at destroying the LGBTQ community, would have put the measure on the November ballot. The fairness ordinance addresses equal opportunity in housing, employment and public accommodations.

The Nebraska Family Alliance launched the petition effort a day after the measure was adopted by the City County in February, with the conservative group painting the effort as a “transgender bathroom ordinance.”

The group’s petition effort gathered 18,502 signatures. More than four times the number needed in just two weeks to qualify it for a spot on the November ballot. This move according to sources inside the City Council, forced the Council to either vote to rescind it or put it to a vote of the people.

Two of the council members Tom Beckius and James Michael Bowers who are gay, voted to rescind the measure. They said they voted to rescind the protection for fear the measure would not survive at the ballot box.

Beckius further added that LGBTQ members of the community are already protected under a 2020 Supreme Court ruling saying that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected under Civil Rights Act.

We can expect the Conservative war on the LGBTQ community to continue all the way through to the November election.

Article by: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

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