Putting Discrimination To a Vote in Bowling Green, Ohio

Did you think 2010 would slip by without an anti-gay ballot measure? Think again, and direct your eyes toward Bowling Green, Ohio.

This November, voters in the city of nearly 30,000 will head to the polls to decide on whether two historic ordinances will be allowed to become law, protecting LGBT folks from discrimination. Those ordinances, originally passed in August 2009, amended city law to prevent LGBT people from being discriminated against when it comes to employment, housing, education and public accommodations. And they were necessary, because currently federal-level anti-discrimination protections don't go far enough to stop discrimination against LGBT people.

But what was a bold move for equality was interpreted by a number of anti-gay folks to be a step toward indecency. And they did what so many anti-gay groups have done in the past decade: they froze the city council ordinances by gathering signatures to put the policies on a November 2010 ballot. Meaning that Bowling Green, Ohio voters will now decide on whether LGBT people should be thrown out of restaurants because of their sexual orientation, or denied an apartment because of their gender identity.

Cleveland's Gay People's Chronicle notes that a senior staff member from Equality Ohio, Kim Welter, will be taking over efforts on the ground in Bowling Green to make sure voters support these two city council ordinances at the ballot box. Her organization? One Bowling Green. And they are hoping to do what voters in both Kalamazoo, Michigan and Gainesville, Florida have done in recent years — rally voters to send an overwhelming message for equality at the polls.

Welter told the Gay People's Chronicle that activists need to step up and win this. They're already engaged in field work, and with the help of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, are raising money on what's likely to be a campaign that will cost tens of thousands of dollars.

"We have to step it up to another level and win it. That’s what we’re poised to do," Welter said.

So can it be done? It sure seems like it. Already, a number of other communities in Ohio have passed citywide resolutions banning many forms of LGBT discrimination. These places include Cleveland, Columbus, Athens, and (Bowling Green's neighbor) Toledo.

Hungry for more information, or to help by throwing a little change in the direction toward equality? Head on over to One Bowling Green, and support the fine folks looking to make yet another community across the country a beacon of fairness, rather than homophobia and transphobia.

As One Bowling Green says on their site, their work represents the best of Bowling Green (and the best of America, too!): "Fairness, equal treatment, the recognition that discrimination is wrong, and a belief that our community is a place that cares about ALL our neighbors and everyone who comes to work, live, play and go to school in our community."

Now there's change I can believe in.

Photo credit: stevendepolo