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Standing room only & a distressing number of people opposed to even studying an LGBT NDO for City of Shawnee 
But also lots of folks in favor! The younger folks all +, nice enough to let me stand by them
Some opinions 🤔
Shawnee’s proposed language includes broad religious exemptions
And the proposed language would let employers & public accommodations to post gender-based rest- & dressing-rooms (so no requirement for gender-neutrality in private spaces)
Council concern that wedding bakers & similar won’t be exempt, wants to know if there can be a variance for such businesses who post their preferences, eg on a front window
That’s an interesting idea. If you’re bigoted, you don’t have to comply, if you’re willing to put up a sign announcing your bigotry
Discussion now about the difference bn exemptions for religious organizations & discrimination bc of the employer/owner’s religious beliefs
Me: I am p. sure Kansas law already protects decisions made bc of religious beliefs, not just religious organizations
1st speaker is from Equality Kansas, being nicer than I would be to those in the crowd staring at him w crossed arms
Speaker: we’re a family & community. But I feel unloved when you say I can be fired etc just bc gay
2d speaker: ACLU rep. NDO very needed based on data. Eg, 36% trans Kansans in poverty vs 12% gen pop
Speaker: Questions of basic fairness require NDO
Speaker: Has a gay kid. Reading the DoI preamble, voice breaks at “created equal” 😢
Speaker: “created equal” means equal chance at job, housing, etc. His son & everyone deserve that.
Next up, Rep. Susan Ruiz (my rep). She & her wife bought in Shawnee bc of our diversity & lovely neighborhoods. She knows her constituents & they’re fine w her sexual orientation & worried about discrimination.
Rep. Ruiz: Fears NDO cannot pass at state level (they tried, had the votes, but leadership killed it 😡). So the cities will have to act to protect our citizens.
Rep. Ruiz: Young people won’t work for companies that discriminate (if they can help it). Young voters want these protections.
New speaker: A JCCC trustee. Supports the NDO bc it’s good for business. Businesses want govt units to have a commitment to diversity, equity & inclusion before they’ll come here
Next: @tmservo433 takes the mike! We don’t make policy based on religious tenets. (He mentioned brothels. 😂)
“Our Faith is not a baseball bat to be used against others.” —@tmservo433
Next speaker: opposes an NDO bc she’s worried about it being used to infringe on other people’s rights (pretty opaque but I guess she means religion)
This speaker is RAMBLING. Sorry but I can’t even paraphrase her
She seems to be worried about children’s privacy to be violated? OH GOD it’s trans bathroom panic
Next speaker is a local mom. Urges moral courage. A suicide epidemic comes from young people feeling they can’t belong in their community. Telling sad personal stories.
Speaker: When we discriminate, people feel like they’re unworthy of life.
Speaker: Just moved here from western KS. Came east to find a more tolerant, accepting, & pro-business environment.
Speaker was director of EcoDev for the small western KS community. She brought millions to the community. She testified in #ksleg against discrimination bc it’s bad for business dev. The city council canceled her agency’s budget when they wouldn’t fire her.
(So ... yeah. NDO is necessary.)
Speaker: local pastor. Gayness isn’t religiously important. People ignore non-biblical behavior all the time.
Laws say what we will permit. We need to say we will not permit discrimination.
Laws say what we will permit. We need to say we will not permit discrimination.
Pastor: Caution in religious conviction exemptions: Will they also apply to race? Watch out for that.
Speaker: Catholic Church says homosexual acts are immoral & he’s Catholic so we’re gonna have to listen to the Catechism for his 90 seconds or w/e
The gif in my last tweet is actual video of Mr. R, raised a Catholic, from the back of this room
Speaker: @SarahCarmodyEsq. Religious freedoms are robustly protected. This NDO would add a group of people who need protection.
Speaker: LGBT community has lots of support. So they get lots of affirmation & welcome. And she doesn’t like it.
Speaker: there is no discrimination against gay people. NDO is really about forcing “people of a certain faith to act in a certain way.”
Speaker: NDO will cause discrimination (against the speaker).
New speaker: Opposes NDO bc religion. Sees it as coercion of religious people
I note that the exemptions cover religious beliefs. These folks are scared of getting sued anyway.
Speaker: no one should treat LGBT folks w disrespect. They should be welcome. But that shouldn’t be enforceable by law.
New speaker: Catholic priest of ministry to “chaste” LGBT people
Speaker: My worthless state senator, Mary Pilcher-Cook, struggling w laryngitis
Sen. Pilcher-Cook w the same religious freedom point
As usual, Sen. Pitcher-Cook has nothing new to add & nothing deep to say
Sen. Pilcher-Cook: purports not to know what discrimination means. More bathroom panic. “Everyone’s liberty should be protected by government.” Me: She means “but not yours. Or yours.”
My phone is gonna die, friends. I’ll keep going as long as I can
New speaker: All the other cities that have passed these NDOs heard these arguments.
Speaker: Our country is meant to be free from religion—you’re not allowed to impose your faith on civic decisiomaking
Speaker: runs a youth theater. As a Shawnee business, wants the NDO so her customers feel safe & protected
Speaker: favors NDO. There’s a lot NDO won’t do. It won’t stop discrimination or bullying or hate. But it shows decency & standing up for basic civil rights.
Speaker: Opposes NDO bc “special protections” for certain people.
NB: My Mom, seated next to me, says this is exactly what people said about civil rights protections for race
NB: My Mom, seated next to me, says this is exactly what people said about civil rights protections for race
New speaker: Business owner. Opposes the NDO. “Special rights” aren’t needed.
New speaker: Opposes NDO. Sin. DRINK.
That speaker said the Communists are lying to us about Caitlyn Jenner. 🤷🏻♀️
New speaker: Opposes NDO. Religious reasons. Thinks everyone should agree w him, asks for hands; less than half the room does.
New speaker: Look at Roeland Park. Passed NDO in 2014, hasn’t had many lawsuits; the fears of the opposition haven’t come to pass
Speaker: The majority must look out for the rights of the minority.
Speaker: City should have a similar effort at inclusion as KU.
New speaker: Shawnee family business owner. He’s gay, Catholic. One of the founding families of Shawnee. Always felt other, tried to pray it away
Oh dear he went thru that gay-chastity ministry
He wants a better world for his kids. They should not have to live w the same fears of ostracism he did.
He warns the religious contingent here: People at your church are scared to be open w you
An NDO would’ve made a huge difference to him as a kid. It’s a statement of human rights in our city.
New speaker: Opposes. Business owners should be free to do whatever they want.
Me: It takes a special kind of person to say this after hearing the previous speaker. Realllll special. 😡
Speaker: Liberty! Nondiscrimination laws ruin people’s lives! (White straight Xtian able-bodied dude, of c)
I’m back, listening to the livestream from home. Speaker: Lots of hate exists, esp online. Let’s stop pretending we’re past the hate of the past.
Speaker: You know who resists change? People who are afraid of losing power.
Speaker draws the clear parallel w Jim Crow laws & those who argued religious justification for race discrimination
Next up, @TomCox4KS. Hopes a statewide law can pass next session
Acknowledges that discrimination occurs at all levels, from #ksleg to a personal level
Also points out that Christians used religious arguments to maintain segregation
Speaker @TomCox4KS: Fed & state won’t do it, so cities must pass NDO.
New speaker, retired school nurse, strongly in favor.
New speaker: Shawnee teen. Anti-discrimination isn’t special rights; it’s the same as what everyone else has. Those against the NDO favor discrimination
Speaker: History remembers injustice, but not the justification for it.
As a Jewish kid, he says, religious freedom = ability to practice w/o getting run out of town; not the ability to use your religion to oppress others
New speaker, opposes NDO. Trans bathroom panic. DRINK
New speaker: Not sure exactly what we’re debating bc there’s no proposed ordinance
Me: He is right. This meeting is to decide whether to tell staff to draft an ordinance
DUDE
Excuse my outburst. Speaker says making business owners refrain from discrimination is like Germany making the Jews wear a Star of David
I say again: DUDE
Speaker is extremely confused about many things
New speaker: Thanks the city council for all the time. This meeting is *long*
Speaker is hs debate coach. Kids now are more accepting than ever. They’re open; what kind of society are we preparing them for?
City council has the terrible responsibility to decide how much dignity these young people will have when they enter the adult world.
New speaker: Most people don’t follow politics & are shocked to learn that it’s still legal to fire someone for being gay
Speaker: Trans women are women, no fear in the locker room. 👊
New speaker: The earlier speaker who said homosexuality is a sin? He’s why we need the NDO
New speaker: @revjennifer72. All humans are created in the image of Gd & we’re standing on indigenous people’s land.
We need to look out for our neighbors. It’s audacity to talk about “special rights” as though LGBT people aren’t our neighbors, families, business owners.
New speaker: Teenager. He can be who he is bc of his community’s love & support. That privilege must be extended to people who are different from him.
New speaker: Anti-NDO. Same religious freedom point as many others
New speaker: Opposes NDO. Trans bathroom panic, DRINK
Speaker is “tired of my skin tone being equated with someone’s behavior.”
New speaker: a KCMO resident & teacher who works in Shawnee. NDO would lay the groundwork for students to see themselves as adult members of the wider community.
So many kids just want to get away. An NDO would help them stay.
New speaker: Everyone has faced some kind of discrimination. Opposes NDO; the JoCo cities’ NDOs are a hodgepodge w/o uniformity & it’s too hard to know what to do.
Me: Uhhhhh you follow the ordinance in the city where your business sits, it’s not hard, speaker sounds inane
New Speaker: Trans bathroom panic. DRINK
Me: I have found it super-distressing that so many people stood up in public & said their religion means they need to be able to treat some folks unfairly.
Me: I, like @revjennifer72, cannot believe that we have to have a fight to get an NDO for LGBT folks on the books
And it makes me itch, the amount of time at this city council meeting spent listening to theology. Yikes.
Last speaker (I think): we need to clear up some things re Trans people
(A) Trans is not a choice. It’s not a lifestyle. It’s how you are.
(B) Trans bathroom panic is unfounded. Trans people are just trying to use the restroom.
(C) Predators who use bathrooms or dressing rooms aren’t Trans people. That’s an old lie that creates despair.
Me: really glad this speaker is getting the last word bc a lot of stuff needed correction
(There was one last Oppose but it was dumb & cumulative)
Councilman Jenkins opposes bc he doesn’t want to get into the “realm of social justice legislation” & he doesn’t believe any discrimination is happening in Shawnee
Councilor Constance favors. She heard examples of discrimination in tonight’s discussion & many reasons to adopt an NDO
Councilor Zimmerman supports.
Councilor Larson-Bunnell speaks in favor of local control. It’s absolutely appropriate for cities to lead the way. She supports the NDO proposal.
Councilor Neighbor supports.
This is incorrect. I don’t know which councilor this was but it wasn’t Larson-Bunnell.
Councilor Larson-Bunnell speaking now. She supports. She urges the Council to be brave.
Councilor Kemmling is “leery” bc he’s a dentist who’s been reading court cases & thinks he knows something
Councilor Kemmling is opening a law practice here on the city council at midnight 🙄
Look I know he’s trying to be thorough but for real, he is so far off what’s going on the cases he’s trying to read
Ok Councilor Kemmling opposes. We all get it but he’s still talking
Councilor Kemmling needs an opponent, Shawnee fam.
Councilor Larson-Bunnell is gonna try to explain to Kemmling how to read a case & do legal analysis. Because Kemmling is just so wrong about everything.
“The bottom line is, religious liberties are important. But other liberties are as well. And they need to be balanced.” —Councilor Larson-Bunnell
Councilor Jenkins is BIG MAD bc he resents the assertion that gays experience discrimination
Oh my GOD Councilor Jenkins insists that state law prohibits discrimination vs LGBT people. He literally missed the point of the entire discussion the past FIVE HOURS & all the prep briefing
I cannot believe what I just heard
He’s mad bc we don’t have data on discrimination in the city. Councilor Larson-Bunnell points out that there’s no data bc there’s no recourse bc it’s legal to discriminate. Jenkins says they could complain under state law (they absolutely cannot).
The proposal passes 5-2. Staff will draft an NDO for consideration & we’ll get to do this all again soon. 🙌
