Anchorage Mayor Vetoes Gay Rights Ordinance (Like His Dad Did!)

Like father, like son! Bigotry apparently runs in families. Mayor Dan Sullivan of Anchorage, Alaska vetoed a gay rights ordinance Monday night, saying that "there is clearly a lack of quantifiable evidence necessitating this ordinance."

The bizarre part of this story is that Dan Sullivan is the son of George Sullivan, who was mayor of Anchorage in the 1970s and who vetoed a gay rights ordinannce in 1976!

According to The New York Times:

The Assembly’s approval of the ordinance, a topic of impassioned public debate at its meetings for much of the summer, followed decades of efforts to pass similar measures. Mr. Sullivan’s father, George Sullivan, who also served as mayor, vetoed an initial proposal in 1976. Then, as now, the ordinance met with vocal opposition among Christian conservatives.

“This ordinance was going to force small-business owners particularly to accommodate people who choose a certain lifestyle,” said the Rev. Jerry Prevo, pastor of the Anchorage Baptist Temple and a leader of the measure’s opponents.

“Once you give special rights to homosexuals,” Mr. Prevo said, “then the next step is you legalize homosexual marriage and so forth.”

Umm, no.

1) How is it a "special right" to be protected from discrimination in employment, housing, education and public accommodations based on sexual orientation?
This argument was won in the 1990s! Sheesh.
2) Umm, how exactly is a city council going to "legalize homosexual marriage"? (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

UPDATE TUE 08/18/09 4:48 PM

***TAKE ACTION: If one of the four opposing members of the Assembly changes their vote in the next 21 days, they can override the mayor's veto. So it might be a good idea for us to remind them of the kinds of lies and affronts that led to the mayor's veto (see more here). The four "no" voters (Debbie Ossiander, Chris Birch, Bill Starr and Dan Coffey) can be reached at: Ossiander@gci.net; StarrWE@muni.org; DanCoffey@gci.net; ChrisBirch@gci.net

Hat/tip to GoodAsYou.