Cd'A fights discrimination

COEUR d'ALENE - The city of Coeur d'Alene moved forward Tuesday with an anti-discrimination ordinance that would protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

The proposed rule would prohibit anyone from discriminating in areas of housing, employment and public accommodations based on "sexual orientation, gender identity and expression."

Any violation would be a misdemeanor offense, punishable by up to $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.

It's an ordinance sorely needed to protect basic human rights, proponents say, and a rule other Idaho cities have adopted because state and federal laws don't cover it.

Unless Coeur d'Alene adopts a new rule, landlords can reject a housing applicant on his or her sexual preference without legal ramifications. Employers can fire employees for the same reason.

That needs to change, said Tony Stewart, Human Rights Task Force on Human Relations member, the group spearheading the effort locally. Stewart spoke during a General Services Committee meeting that took in more than an hour of public comment, which was evenly split. The committee voted 2-1 in favor of sending an ordinance to the full city council for approval.

"We find it in direct conflict with the core principles of democracy to suggest that some members of our fair city must remain second-class citizens," Stewart said. "They deserve a right to live a free life."

Opponents see it differently.

They say such a rule would grant special privileges to a small group.

Churches and religious nonprofits would be exempt from the rule's umbrella. Also, the rule wouldn't apply to people renting out a room in their home or a duplex.

While that may be so, opponents said, individuals wouldn't be allowed to make decisions based on their religious beliefs. That infringes on religious freedom, they said.

"It does not protect religious people as individuals," said Paul Van Noy, pastor at Candlelight Christian Fellowship, who listed more than a dozen concerns with the proposed rule to the GSC. "It's not the place of the state or city to force a morality - or immorality."

Those concerns also included branding North Idaho as discriminatory. By making a rule against a perceived problem sends a message that the problem is getting out of control, and that's not the case here, they said.

"We will revive the stigma associated with North Idaho," Van Noy said.

But several gay, lesbian and transgender people spoke in favor of a new rule, saying it gave them a sense of protection otherwise lacking.

"We need this," said Susan Moss, a gay woman who said complaints aren't recorded now because there isn't a rule on the books and victims have nowhere to turn. "There's no forum. Who do we go to?"

Transgender Robyn Edwards lost a job about 10 years ago in Coeur d'Alene because of Edwards' gender identity, which prompted a move to Colorado.

"I thought it was important to come here and let you know these matters do affect people who do live here in your community, who do feel excluded and who are prevented from being full participants, " Edwards told the audience.

GSC meetings generally don't open the floor to public comment, but it was allowed for the approximately 100 people who showed up for the subcommittee meeting that usually draws only a few people otherwise. Discussion on the topic turned toward politics and religion.

"This is a deviant lifestyle," said Bob Pedersen, the conservative group Rally Right founder and pastor, who called adopting a rule "shaking our fist in the face of God. We love the sinner, but hate the sin."

Brent Regan, outgoing Coeur d'Alene school board member, called it "a political stunt" with which City Councilman Steve Adams, the lone no vote on the committee, agreed.

"This has no place at this level. We should not be here today," Adams said, calling it a "progressive, liberal Democrat idea" designed to polarize the community and intimidate those who disagreed with the rule by labeling them as against equal rights. "I would be forced by this ordinance either as an individual or individual business owner to violate my conscience. That's discrimination."

At one point, a man in the audience said loud enough to be heard, "there's a row of them" when he noticed more than one homosexual male in the crowd.

Before the topic got under way, City Councilman and GSC Chairman Mike Kennedy told the crowd to withhold applause or jeering, a rule that was followed during the meeting. Except at the end, however, when a KHQ television reporter covering the event applauded after Kennedy spoke in favor of the rule.

"We are here representing a secular government. That is our charge, to work for everyone regardless of their religious background," Kennedy said. "Every person should be treated equally under the law in our society ... This is mere human rights."

City Councilman Ron Edinger also voted in favor of the ordinance, which would mirror the one adopted in Boise.

"We have the duty to ensure that all our citizens are created - or judged - equally," he said. "I get very frustrated at times when issues of this nature ... get partisan, because I don't think it's right."