http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/Discrimination_Ordinance.mp3
Traverse City officials got an earful last night about their proposal to include sexual orientation in the city's non-discrimination law. Of the thirty-two people who spoke, more than twice as many favor the change than oppose it.
The city's current ordinance mirrors federal and state law. It says people can't be denied housing or a job or entrance to a restaurant based on their race, gender, religion or other physical characteristics such as weight and height. But some think adding sexual orientation to that list creates a special category of protection for homosexuals that doesn't exist for everybody else. Traverse City resident Paul Nepote called it discriminatory.
"It's an unnecessary solution in search of a non-existing problem as far as I can see."
Nepote said it would cost taxpayers if opponents succeed in petitioning for a special election to fight the ordinance.
Several gay people who spoke in favor said if you want to feel repression and discrimination try walking in their shoes for a while. A couple of them said they've been fired from jobs in the city solely because they're homosexual. And the reason there haven't been complaints is because there hasn't been anywhere to take them.