Henderson repeals gay ordinance and more. . .
City council the first to repeal controversial ordinances passed in 1999
From, The Kentucky Citizen Digest, May/June, 2001.

On March 13, Henderson became the first Kentucky city to repeal one of four gay rights ordinances passed in the Commonwealth in 1999.  By a 3-2 margin, the Henderson City Commission voted to rescind a controversial ordinance granting special rights to homosexuals in housing, employment and public accommodation.   But gay-rights activists lost more than an ordinance that bestowed special status to homosexuals.  In a surprise move, the city commission went a step further and also voted on a companion ordinance which eliminates “sexual orientation” as a protected class under the city’s equal employment opportunity policy and grievance procedure. “Sexual orientation” language had been included on city employment applications for the past 10 years. City Clerk Joanne Roberts said the changes would take place immediately.  No longer will sexual orientation be considered when hiring city employees.

Opponents of the 18-month-old “Fairness- Ordinance” argued that it compelled landlords and business owners to embrace values that would violate their consciences. Others indicated that the ordinance was never needed since not one complaint was filed during its tenure.  “I believe we have now set a positive moral tone for the Henderson community,” said Commissioner and Mayor Pro-tem Robby Mills.  Mills sponsored the repeal of the ordinance and was one of its most outspoken critics when it was first passed.  In turn, Henderson voters rewarded Mills last fall by sending him back to the city commission by a record number of votes.  Mills received 5,776 votes, surpassing the previous record by 901 votes.

The rescinding process was relatively quiet and lasted only a few weeks. Contrasting sharply with the enactment of the ordinance in 1999 wherein a heated debate was drawn out over several months.  Then, several hundred Hender-sonians attended city meetings and spoke against the proposed ordinance.  This time, only a few dozen attended the recent city meetings to voice their opinions.  According to one commissioner, only about half of those were from the Henderson area.

Observers point to last November’s city commission election — a clear forecast of the ordinance’s demise— as the reason for the low turnout at recent city meetings.   Vying for the four seats on the city commission were a slate of seven candidates, six of whom vowed to repeal the ordinance.  The top two vote-getters, Robby Mills and Russell Sights, broke the previous vote record for a city commissioner.  It is no coincidence that both men were the only two commissioners who voted against the pro-gay ordinance in the 3-2 decision in 1999.

On the other side of the issue was Commissioner Michele Deep, the only candidate who voted for the ordinance.  She barely held onto her seat. The difference between her fourth-place finish and the fifth-place finisher was 120 votes, or five votes per precinct.

Local homosexual activist, Hope Goodman started out the open forum by telling the commission, “I want to repeat, just in case someone missed it, discrimination is a subtle form of hatred and to repeal this ordinance is to sanction that type of hatred.”

Another activist, Rev. Jerry Greenly, Director of the Religious Organizing Project of Kentucky told Commissioners Sights, Mills and Bob Hall that they were placing their eternal destiny in serious risk if they voted against the ordinance.

Commissioner Sights responded:   “my eternal destiny is not dependent on what anyone in this room thinks, or believes about me.  It only depends on my personal relationship with Jesus Christ and He will decide my eternal destiny - no one else,” he said.

Another homosexual rights advocate, Randy Lewis, told the three commissioners, “you’re not Christians, you are hateful bigots,”  Mayor Joan Hoffman, who herself was a leading advocate of the ordinance, reprimanded Lewis for his remaark.

Notwithstanding her rebuke of Lewis, Hoffman and the homosexual activists vowed to continue the fight.  “I say we who think these rights are important should join together and take this issue to our state house and to Washington D.C. . .” Hoffman said.

Sights reminded those in attendance that the people of Henderson had clearly spoken last election and their statement that would echo across the state was “No to special rights for homosexuals.”
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst