Arkansas Town Defies State, Votes to Keep LGBT Non-Discrimination Law
eye'm thynkin': Because sometimes we just need some good news...
When the city council of tiny Eureka Falls, Arkansas heard the state legislature was debating a bill that would forbid local communities from extending LGBT protections not offered by the state, the council made a preemptive strike and adopted their own LGBT non-discrimination ordinance designed to protect LGBT residents and visitors in the areas of housing and employment. The ordinance went an extra step, requiring that all vendors doing business with the town have a non-discrimination policy in place that includes protection for their LGBT employees.
When the bigots in Little Rock actually passed their no-non-discrimination law, the town's city council put their standing ordinance up to a popular vote. The citizens of Eureka Springs defied the state and voted 579-231 in favor of keeping their protections in place.
State officials have not responded to the town's act of rebellion; but State Senator Bart Hester (R) said, "Eureka Springs, well they are what they are. They're a case study for how to destroy a city."
Yeah, that democracy/popular vote thing is a real community killer.
Eureka Springs Arkansas. Their ability to grasp the obvious is in the name bestowed upon them; Eureka, "used as an exclamation of triumph at a discovery."
ReplyDeleteEureka.
Springs "to rise, leap, move, or act suddenly and swiftly, as by a sudden dart or thrust forward or outward" Springs.
In this case, a city in Carroll County, Arkansas, United States, and one of two county seats for the county. It is located in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,073.
2,073 thinking people. "Thinking people" in Arkansas. Imagine that.