[News] [NE, USA] Neb. AG: City ordinances protecting gays illegal

[Stephanie Stevens]

Aiken Standard, SC, USA


Neb. AG: City ordinances protecting gays illegal

Updated: 5/4/2012 7:59 PM

By TIMBERLY ROSS, Associated Press


OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Nebraska cities can't adopt ordinances protecting
people from discrimination for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or
transgender because the state's anti-discrimination laws don't extend
to sexual orientation, the state attorney general's office said in a
legal opinion issued Friday.

Voters can approve changes to city charters to extend protections to
groups not covered by state law, but local governments lack the
authority, the opinion said.

"Nebraska statutes do not authorize political subdivisions in
Nebraska, including municipalities, to expand protected
classifications beyond the scope of the civil rights classifications
created in state statute," Attorney General Jon Bruning said in a
statement after the release.

The opinion, which critics predicted would get shot down in court, was
issued in response to a request by conservative state Sen. Beau McCoy,
of Omaha, who introduced legislation this year that would have barred
counties and cities from adopting anti-discrimination ordinances that
go beyond statewide rules. The bill didn't advance out of committee.

McCoy said the opinion frees him of having to introduce the measure
again next year.

"I believe that it not only backs up and supports what I have said for
almost eight months now, but it probably goes further in outlining why
civil rights and discrimination measures are state issues," he said.

Neither state nor federal laws expressly protect people from
discrimination for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

Omaha, Nebraska's most populous city, narrowly adopted an ordinance in
March employers, employment agencies, job training programs, labor
groups, public accommodations and businesses that contract with the
city from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. It
provides exemptions for religious organizations.

Omaha city attorney Paul Kratz said the city's legal team disagrees
with the opinion, and he doesn't think it will have any effect on the
new ordinance.

"If somebody sues us, we'll deal with it in court," he said.

The city council in Lincoln, the state's second biggest city, will
vote on a similar ordinance on May 14, Mayor Chris Beutler said at a
news conference Friday.

"The basic issue here is fairness. No one should fear losing their job
because of sexual orientation," Beutler said.

He cited the state motto, "equality before the law," and said, "it's
time to make those words ring true for everybody."

Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, a political science professor at the
University of Nebraska at Omaha who joined with Equal Omaha in
advocating for the ordinance, said the opinion is disingenuous given
the protections that are starting to be granted to gay and transgender
people under federal law.

"I don't believe his ruling, per se, would withstand further
constitutional scrutiny," he said, suggesting the Republican attorney
general is trying to rally conservative support for his U.S. Senate
run.

Meredith Bacon, a transgender professor in the political science
department, said she hopes the ordinance is taken to court, where she
predicts it will prevail.

"Dozens, if not hundreds, of cities in the United States have done
exactly what Attorney General Bruning says is not possible in
Nebraska," she said.

Rev. Al Riskowski, executive director of the Nebraska Family Council,
said "it affirms what we've been saying all along - that this should
be a state issue."

His group has spoken against the two cities' efforts to pass the ordinances.

Riskowski said cities shouldn't be creating protected classes because
there are no state standards for doing so, which leaves the door open
for any group to become a protected class.

"Your imagination is your only limit," he said.


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