Thomas Gounley

TGOUNLEY@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Clarification: Mayor Bob Stephens was not present at Tuesday's meeting. The dissent mentioned is based on his co-sponsorship of the alternative bill put forth by Councilman Craig Fishel and the mayor as well as Fishel's comments at the meeting.

Springfield Mayor Bob Stephens and Councilman Craig Fishel expressed dissent Tuesday to a proposed ordinance that would expand the city's nondiscrimination ordinance.

In response, three other council members fired back, citing America in the 1860s, the city's murder rate and the Constitution.

This issue is whether to expand the nondiscrimination ordinance to include sexual orientation and gender identity, with exemptions based on religion.

At a noon meeting of City Council's Community Involvement Committee, Fishel said he and Stephens believe the proposed ordinance goes "way beyond" federal and state standards. Fishel also said he isn't convinced anyone in Springfield has been discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

"I don't think Springfield needs to step out and be unique in this particular issue," Fishel said.

The proposed ordinance would make it illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the areas of housing, employment or public accommodations. It would also expand an exemption for religious organizations included in an original council bill tabled in August 2012. The proposed ordinance was one of two recommendations put forth by the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Task Force, which was formed after the bill was tabled.

Fishel provided committee members with another version of what he and Stephens think council should consider. That version would substantially narrow the scope of the ordinance, including doing away with a section making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in employment.

"In the Fair Housing Act, it's already a listed class of discrimination and we would like to conform with the federal and the state laws concerning that," Fishel said. "But I've read twice the entire report (produced by the task force) and found no hard evidence that they come up with about discrimination."

Fishel also said he felt he was accurately reflecting the views of his constituents.

"I just don't think Springfield has to be a leader in this particular issue," he said.

Fishel quickly found himself at odds with three members of the committee: Council members Craig Hosmer, Mike Carroll and Cindy Rushefsky. Councilman Doug Burlison, also a committee member, was absent. Stephens, who is not a member of the committee, was not present.

"Let's assume we're back in 1862, and there's a proposal like this involving black people," Rushefsky said. "But no African-Americans have come forward with a complaint of discrimination. Would you feel that was really indicative of what the society was, and that it didn't merit making a statement that we're in favor of equal rights for black people?"

Hosmer called fair housing laws "minimum standards" and said he believes the Constitution calls for all individuals being equal.

"If you're discriminating against someone because of something they can't control — whether that's the color of their skin, their sexual orientation or anything else — in my opinion that's wrong and the city should address it," Hosmer said.

At one point, Fishel indicated that he felt a lack of evidence of any discrimination by area businesses was a reason the proposed ordinance wasn't needed.

"If we have no murders, would you want no murder laws on the books?" Carroll responded.

Fishel's comments also prompted David Trippe, a task force member, to discuss a survey of Springfield-area LGBT individuals conducted by the advocacy group PROMO. About 10 percent said they had experienced discrimination in housing; 45 percent said they had experienced it when it came to employment. Fishel asked to be provided a copy of the survey results.

Following Fishel's comments, Hosmer, Carroll and Rushefsky voted to send the proposed ordinance based on the task force recommendation — not the version put forth by Fishel and Stephens — to full council for consideration.

Time line of the issue

February 2012: The Mayor's Commission on Human Rights proposes adding gender identity and sexual orientation to the city's nondiscrimination ordinance.

"We're all unanimous about going forward with this," Kelly Johnson, vice-chair of the commission, said.

Currently, under the city's ordinance, discrimination based on race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability and sex is forbidden when it comes to housing, employment or public accommodations. In housing, discrimination based on familial status is also forbidden, and in employment, age discrimination between 40 and 69 years is forbidden.

August: Followed heated public comments, Springfield City Council votes 7-2, with councilmen Jerry Compton and Doug Burlison dissenting, to table the proposal. Plans are made for a city task force to study the issue.

October: Comments made by the Rev. Phil Snider in support of the proposal at the Aug. 13 council meeting go viral after being shared by online news agencies and former "Star Trek" actor George Takei. His comments have been viewed millions of times on YouTube.

December: Members of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Task Force are finalized.

February 2013: The task force meets for the first time.

"First we're gonna gather information about what other communities have done, how it's worked out other places, that sort of thing," Chairman Miles Sweeney, a retired Greene County circuit judge, said. "We're going to summarize that information for the benefit of City Council. We're going to identify options for City Council — there may be more options than just up or down (on the proposal) — and then we're going to prioritize those options and list the pros and cons."

March: The task force splits into three subcommittees to focus on broad topics: employment, public accommodations and housing, and health care and transgender issues.

April: At one meeting, Gerald Porter, a psychology professor, and Josh Castillo, a local health care worker who was born female before transitioning to male, addresses the group.

"Sex is our biological identity, male or female," Porter says. "Gender is about our sense of being male or female."

At a second meeting, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender communities address the council.

"I haven't been to the gym in two months," one individual said. "Because if there's a confrontation with someone, I don't want to be pulled out onto the carpet to explain myself."

April 22: At a third meeting, Rev. John Lindell, of James River Assembly, emphasizes a need to express love — while at the same time equating homosexuality with greed, anger, gambling and chemical dependence.

"It's like if someone had a natural tendency to anger," he said. "They wouldn't be allowed to express that without restriction."

A letter signed by 23 pastors and Christian leaders is subsequently sent to the task force.

"Our hearts continue to break for the (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community of Springfield," the letter said. "As pastors and Christian leaders, we are deeply sorry for the ways Christianity is frequently used to hurt rather than heal, and we want you to know there are many of us in support of you."

June: A subcommittee for the task force reports that after surveying 182 businesses — including the city's 22 largest — about 54 percent said they would support the additions, while 31 percent said they would not and 15 percent offered no opinion.

Another survey finds that about 84 percent of the 56 churches surveyed were opposed to an ordinance — 79 percent said they would still oppose an ordinance even if the task force could show discrimination.

November: In a report, the Springfield Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Task Force recommends that City Council pass an ordinance only guarding against discrimination in housing — and warns against a public vote on any ordinance.

To hold a vote, it says, could create a public rift and harm the city's reputation.

However, in a second recommendation, the task force backs broader protections for gays and lesbians that would ban discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations, provided the ordinance contain strong religious exemptions.

The housing-only ordinance recommendation is favored by the task force 12-3. The broader ordinance is favored 9-6.

June: Springfield City Council's Community Involvement Committee asks city legal staff to draw up an ordinance based on the task force's second recommendation.