Anchorage Mayor Vetoes LGBT Rights Ordinance: The Power of Privilege
Filed by: Waymon Hudson
August 18, 2009 1:30 PM
It looks like we won the battle against discrimination and no one bothered to tell us! At least that seems to be the opinion of Mayor Dan Sullivan of Anchorage, Alaska.
Sullivan has vetoed an ordinance that would ban discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in Anchorage. The ordinance passed last week by a 7-4 vote.
In a statement, Sullivan said he sees no need for the measure:
My review shows that there is clearly a lack of quantifiable evidence necessitating this ordinance. My review also shows that the vast majority of those who communicated their position on the ordinance are in opposition.
See? Sullivan asked his other straight, white, male friends about discrimination and found it wasn't a problem. Of course!
Obviously, the mayor is full of it.
It's always amazing how people that speak from positions of privilege and power make completely false assertions that discrimination isn't an issue.
Sullivan has completely overlooked the conflicting nature of his very own statement- discrimination against LGBT people doesn't exist, yet people came out of the woodwork to oppose any protections for them. He shouldn't need to look much further than the push-back (much of which was surely tainted with "gays are evil" language) to see the evidence of animus towards the LGBT community.
Heck, he needn't look further than the former Governor of his own state, Sarah "I have Gay Friends, but think they don't deserve rights" Palin, to find discrimination against LGBT people. Obviously his "review" wasn't too thorough.
His veto can be overridden by the Assembly, but they need eight votes to do it. They have 21 days to do so.
Majority privilege and power can be great blinders to give small-minded people the cover they need to stay comfortably bigoted.
Mayor Sullivan is a shining example of that.
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2 Comments
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yesterday i had received an email concerning this, with the names of the 4 council members who'd voted against the bill to begin with. they can now turn around and change their votes and overturn this veto if they are smart. i sent emails to each of them asking that they reconsider their votes and work to overturn the veto by the mayor. if we can mobilize and let the people of anchorage know that this is a worldwide issue, and not just local to them, perhaps we can get this accomplished.
george | August 19, 2009 8:24 AM
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Again, it is more than obvious that the politicians of Alaska are as clueless as the politicians from Oklahoma!
Lord! Help us!
Tom Cotner | August 19, 2009 8:38 AM
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