Lincoln City officials unanimously approved an Equal Rights Ordinance - the first of its kind on the Oregon coast - in front of a full house audience at city hall Monday night. The ordinance provides legal recourse - enforced by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) - for anyone subjected to discrimination based on race, religion, color, sex, marital status, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Lincoln City joins the ranks of Multnomah County, Portland, Bend, Lake Oswego, Beaverton, Salem, Eugene (no gender identity protection), Ashland (housing only), Benton County and Corvallis. This is a great step in the right direction, and a great sign of progress for us Oregonians.

"Such discrimination threatens not only the rights and privileges of Lincoln City citizens, but also the institutions and foundation of our community," the ordinance states.

"Furthermore, the city council finds that state law does not clearly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It is the intent of the city council, in the exercise of its powers for the protection of the public health, safety, and general welfare, and for the maintenance of peace and good government, that every individual shall have an equal opportunity to participate fully in the life of the city, and that discriminatory barriers to equal participation in employment, housing, and public accommodation be removed."

Council member Rick Brissette summed it up precisely in urging fellow councilors to vote in favor of the ordinance.

"Let us say no to discrimination and tell our citizens and the world that we are truly honoring the last three words of the Pledge of Allegiance: justice for all," he said. "Not just for some, but justice for all."

A standing room only audience - most of them there to support the ordinance - watched history in the making. Lincoln City became the first small coastal community to join Ashland, Beaverton, Bend, Corvallis, Eugene, Lake Oswego, Portland and Salem, as well as Multnomah and Benton counties, in adding sexual orientation and gender identity to existing non-discrimination policies.

Lincoln City entered into a required intergovernmental agreement with BOLI to enforce the ordinance. BOLI Commissioner Dan Gardner showed up Monday night to support the ordinance.

"These are basic civil rights protections that should have been in place long ago," he said. "Ending discrimination based on sexual orientation throughout Oregon is good public policy. It is consistent with the existing civil rights protections that are designed to protect our most vulnerable citizens."

Yet such protections are lacking elsewhere in the state.

Oregon's equivalent to the 1964 federal Civil Rights Act contains the usual protections against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, but it's a bit murky in terms of sexual orientation. The state act does make it unlawful "to discriminate against an individual based on the sex of any person with whom the individual associates" - what Gardner referred to as an "association right." A 1998 Court of Appeals decision indicated that if an individual is engaged in a same sex relationship - i.e., associating with another person of the same sex - an employer could not discriminate against the individual based on that association.

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After the vote, the majority of citizens present gave council members a standing ovation.

Read entire story: Newport News Times

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 16, 2005 at 3:15 PM. Want to discuss? Leave a comment below.