Haters lose Haters lose! With all 19 precincts reporting, the Forces of Intolerance were handed another crushing defeat as they sought to use their reprehensible tactics to attempt to overturn Ordinance 1856.
Just as the voters of Gainesville, FL did earlier this year, 62 percent of Kalamazoo voters approved Ordinance 1856 by a vote of 7,671 in favor to 4,731 against. This margin is larger than the number of outstanding absentee ballots that are currently being counted.
The passage of this ordinance adds protections for gay and transgender people to the city's nondiscrimination ordinance.
In addition, the mayor and the six members of the Kalamazoo City Commission who voted to unanimously pass the law back in June were all reelected.
“Our campaign started with a very basic idea, and today voters confirmed that we are One Kalamazoo,” One Kalamazoo campaign manager Jon Hoadley said in a written statement.But the bottom line is that the rights of minorities should NEVER have to come up for a vote in the first place. Maybe our side needs to push a constitutional amendment to ban the practice.
The fair minded voters of Kalamazoo, MI have spoken and handed the bigots another bitter defeat. The politicians who voted for it all got reelected.
Thanks, Kalamazoo.