Editor's note: This story has been updated from an earlier version to reflect the Greenville County Council's final vote on a proposed sunset clause for non-binding county resolutions. The reporter has also added comments County Councilman Joe Dill made ahead of Tuesday's committee and regular meetings.

A motion that would have rescinded the Greenville County Council's 1996 anti-gay resolution failed to pass in the group's regular meeting Tuesday night after having received a solid majority of support at an earlier committee meeting.

In a 6-5 vote during the regular council meeting at County Square in Greenville, a simple majority of County Council members supported a sunset clause that would have removed the anti-gay resolution, but the matter required a seventh vote, Council Chairman Butch Kirven said.

The sunset clause, therefore, failed to pass.

The resolution had earlier received support from eight council members, but councilmen Joe Dill and Bob Taylor pulled their support for the sunset clause two hours later during the council's regular meeting. This change of heart came after a procession of ministers and community members voiced their strong opposition to the 1996 resolution's removal during public comments. All cited scripture.

"I heard the speakers," Dill said. "I changed my mind."

More:'Get this off the books': Local group calls on county to rescind 1996 anti-gay resolution

Upstate Pride, a group that represents human rights issues for the LGBTQ community, brought the 1996 resolution to the current council's attention in late January, asking council members to please get it "off the books." The group's members and supporters have attended two meetings since then, repeating their call for the 1996 resolution's removal.

The issue has deeply divided the council ever since.

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Citizens speak, Bible looms large

Of 10 community members able to speak Tuesday night during the regular meeting's public comment period, eight voiced support for "traditional family values." About half of them came to the podium holding a Bible. Just two speakers asked for the 1996 resolution's removal.

But the capacity crowd of people seated inside the council chambers and scores more standing outside were about evenly split between those supporting the 1996 resolution and those asking for its removal.

"I as a Baptist preacher do believe there's one way. That God's way," said one of the citizen speakers, David Shoemaker of Bethel Calvary Baptist Church in Travelers Rest. "You can't get away from it, people. 'In God We Trust.' This is a biblical nation. County Council, if we get away from that, if we get away from biblical values, we won't have the same Greenville that we have today. I beg of you, keep things as they are."

The Rev. Greg Dover of Augusta Heights Baptist Church disagreed, saying he had chosen to move to Greenville and raise his family here because "it has changed." He said his reading of the scripture embraces diversity and welcomes people as they are.

"Let me be clear, the 1996 resolution and anything like it that we hope to sunset is bad for Greenville," he said. "It is not only bad for the LGBTQ community, who are your constituents I remind you, it is bad for business, it is bad for tourism, it is bad for economic development."

1996 archive story:County Council votes 9-3 against gay lifestyles

The next speaker was also a Baptist preacher, Todd Page of Taylors.

"I wholeheartedly disagree with what I heard from a man who calls himself a Baptist preacher," Page said. "It disgusts me."

Asked why more LGBTQ community members and supporters hadn't spoken during the meeting, Upstate Pride member Terena Starks, a past speaker, said the 1996 resolution supporters had beaten her colleagues to the front of the line. Citizens put their names on a list — first-come, first-served — when they want to speak, but under council rules, only about 10 people typically have time to speak during the 30 minutes set aside for citizen comments.

"It's disappointing to say the least," Starks said of the night's final outcome. "To get the backlash we're getting. It hurts."

She said Upstate Pride would regroup, talk about their strategy and try again. She said they do not intend to stop pushing for the 1996 resolution to be rescinded.

Flip flop

In an earlier 8-3 committee vote, the Greenville County Council had taken the first step toward creating a sunset clause that would have removed the county's 1996 anti-gay resolution. That vote took place at County Council's 4 p.m. Committee of the Whole meeting at County Square in Greenville. Approval there meant the matter could come to a vote at the regular council meeting two hours later.

As proposed, the "sunset resolution" would have killed all resolutions approved more than four years ago and would have continued to sunset all non-binding resolutions — essentially expressions of a council's opinion on an issue — after four years.

A gallery of onlookers broke into applause when the resolution passed at committee.

But voting against the sunset clause at the regular council meeting were five men, enough to kill the measure: Taylors-area Councilman Sid Cates, Joe Dill of northern Greenville County, Bob Taylor of Greenville, Mike Barnes of Greer and Berea representative Willis Meadows. Barnes, Dill and Meadows are not up for re-election this year. Taylor and Cates have said they will step down after this year.

When The Greenville News spoke with Dill earlier in the day, he said the sunset measure could be the solution everyone was looking for. He said he also tries to love everybody and doesn't want to tell people how to live. Asked if he had a problem with the gay lifestyle, he said "no."

"I have no animosity or any hatred for anybody that lives a lifestyle that's different from mine," Dill said. "That's their personal life. God's the one that judges. Not me."

Voting in favor of the sunset measure were its author, Lynn Ballard, as well as Rick Roberts, Butch Kirven, Xanthene Norris, Liz Seman and Dan Tripp. County Councilman Ennis Fant was out of town and missed Tuesday's vote.

Fant, who voiced his support for the LGBTQ cause at the Feb. 18 meeting, could have been the deciding vote in favor of the sunset clause. In recent weeks he has asked the county attorney to draw up a resolution that would specifically rescind the 1996 anti-gay resolution.

"If he were here it would have passed," Stark said after the meeting.

Still in play are Fant's proposal to target the 1996 resolution for removal as well as a referendum Dill has proposed that would put the matter up for a vote on Election Day in November.

Anna B. Mitchell covers growth and local government in Greenville County. You can follow her on Twitter @AnnaBard2U and on Facebook.