Omaha City Council member Franklin Thompson plans a single-handed fight, if necessary, to push his proposal for a public vote on new protections for gay and transsexual Omahans.
He said Monday that he would not withdraw his proposal, scheduled for a vote at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, even though he expects to be defeated in a 6-1 vote.
An ordinance that would bar discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity was defeated last week on a 3-3 vote of the council. Thompson abstained in that vote.
Backers of the ordinance said Monday that they were developing another strategy to pursue their goal but weren’t ready to offer details.
Thompson said the success of a ballot issue would depend upon the gay community’s ability and willingness to conduct an effective campaign of forums, workshops and community meetings.
“If they just lean on wishful thinking, cross your fingers and hold your breath, it would fail,” he said. “I believe the long-term gain (of a campaign) would outweigh the short-term pain.”
Thompson said his educational background, specializing in human and race relations, contributed to his wanting to open the dialogue. He is an associate professor of teacher education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
However, other council members, from both sides of last week’s vote, say putting the issue on the ballot would be divisive and counterproductive.
“We’ve never put civil rights to a vote, and it would be ridiculous to do it now,” said City Council member Ben Gray, who introduced the ordinance at the request of members of Omaha’s gay community.
Gray said that an election would create only division in the community and that the proposal would not pass. If people’s rights are being violated, it is the City Council’s obligation to make sure they have the protection of the law, he said.
“This is an easy argument to me,” Gray said. “This is not complicated. If you believe we have a group of citizens in crisis, and if that crisis is caused by the beliefs of the majority, then we are obliged as elected officials to provide equal protection under the law.”
Council member Pete Festersen, who voted with Gray last week, said he supports killing Thompson’s proposal. No other protected classes have been able to use the ballot to win civil rights protections, he said.
Festersen said at least four other council members want to kill Thompson’s proposal by placing it “on file.”
“I believe there’s general agreement among the council to do that,” he said.
Council member Tom Mulligan, who voted against the proposed ordinance last week, said he would introduce a motion to kill the Thompson proposal, “if necessary.”
Jeff Schamp, executive director of Citizens for Equal Protection, the gay rights organization that pressed for the ordinance, said Thompson’s proposal would change the City Charter and not put the protections into city ordinance.
In addition, Schamp said, Thompson’s proposal would extend protections based only on sexual orientation and would not offer those protections to transsexual people.
“Everybody who looks at it agrees that it’s pointless,” Schamp said.
Schamp and Gray said they are exploring other avenues to achieve their goals. They declined to offer details Monday.
Thompson acknowledged that members of Omaha’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual community have told him that they’re not interested in his proposal being put to a public vote.
“They’re tired of the name-calling and the bickering,” he said.
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