It's crunch time for the One Kalamazoo team fighting to keep Ordinance 1856 on the books.For those of you who were unaware of it thanks to the almost nonstop coverage in much of the GL press and Gayosphere of marriage initiatives and votes, the Kalamazoo, MI city commissioners unanimously passed on June 29 Ordinance 1856.
It would make it a city infraction punishable by up to a $500 fine to discriminate against people because of their sexual preferences or gender identification in housing, employment or access to public accommodations.
Just as predictably, the Forces of Intolerance attacked it by setting up a petition drive that gathered enough haters to force a referendum on the vote.
So once again, our civil rights are up for a fracking vote. The GLBT people in the state of Michigan answered the Zoo's call for help. Many have headed to the Western Michigan hamlet and home of Western Michigan University to help their brothers and sisters out.
The anti side has nothing but their usual reprehensible tactics of fear, loathing, obfuscation and outright lying to people in order to defeat this legislation.It's time once again to give these misguided people another painful electoral beatdown tomorrow. If you're in the area, do what you can to help the peeps in the Zoo defend their law. If you're a progressive voter living in the area, go to the polls and take as many friends with you as possible. If you live on the WMU campus and are eligible to vote, this is your opportunity to show that discounting the youth vote is a fatal error.
I'm hoping and praying that happens and Ordinance 1856 stays on the books.