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(Topeka, Kansas) Opponents of a Topeka city ordinance banning discrimination against gays in city hiring have collected enough votes to either force the city council to repeal the law or put the issue to voters.
Followers of anti-gay crusader Fred Phelps gathered 6,333 names on a petition to reopen the issue - more than enough required under the city charter.
If the petitions are certified the city has 20 days to decide whether to rescind the law or put it to voters. A vote would have to come within 90 days. If approved, the measure would not only rescind the ordinance but try to prevent council members from passing a similar one in the future.
The ordinance was passed in November by a 5 - 4 vote of city council. While the law bans discrimination in city hiring practices it does not affect the private sector. Nor does it cover the transgendered.
During the debate in council Phelps' followers attacked the ordinance claiming it "endorses sin".
Several times during presentations Topeka Mayor James McClinton interrupted speakers. "We will not become a circus in here tonight," the mayor said.
Phelps runs Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church, which is mainly made up of family members. Church followers regularly held demonstrations against homosexuality across the nation, carrying signs with slogans such as, "God hates fags."
Councilwoman Tiffany Muller, one of the sponsors of the ordinance said many people who signed the petition didn't understand what it did and said they were tricked into signing it.
County Election Commissioner Elizabeth Ensley said 64 people asked that their names be removed from the petition after it was submitted.
Phelps supporters also announced on Wednesday that they would travel to Montana next month to demonstrate at that state's Supreme Court to protest last week's ruling that lesbian and gay employees of the University of Montana System must be provided with the option of purchasing health insurance and other employee benefits for their domestic partners.
©365Gay.com 2005
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