An ordinance prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQA people in employment and housing practices has been a controversial topic among candidates running for Moscow City Council.
Enacted by city council in 2013, the ordinance adds the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity/expression” as protected statuses in addition to Idaho’s existing human rights act.
Moscow is one of the eleven Idaho cities with such an ordinance in place to protect LGBTQA people from workplace and housing discrimination.
There are three four-year-term seats up for grabs in the Tuesday, Nov. 5 election—six candidates are running.
Three of those candidates expressed approval of upholding the non-discrimination ordinance in interviews and at Tuesday night’s candidate forum
on campus: Sandra Kelly, Maureen Laflin and incumbent candidate Anne Zabala.
“I would never vote to repeal that,” Kelly said in an interview. “I cannot imagine a time where I would —unless things were amazing and we never had to worry about that— but I don’t see that happening anywhere in the near future.”
Laflin said she is in favor of upholding the ordinance because the Moscow Human Rights Commission has reported a decrease in discrimination issues since the creation of the ordinance.
“We need an enforcement mechanism that is real when you look at the protections for LGBTQ people,” Laflin said in the forum.
Zabala said she is disappointed that removing this ordinance is even a question in this election.
“I can’t imagine why anyone would want to see people that are part of the LGBQA community discriminated against in that way,” Zabala said in an interview.
ICYMI: Moscow recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ Day for the third year
Two candidates, Kelsey Berends and Brandon Mitchell, expressed opposition to the ordinance in interviews.
Berends said she gets concerned when there is a finite list of people on a non-discrimination ordinance, as she said some people in the community don’t believe the lifestyle put forward by the LGBTQA community is right.
“Ultimately what tends to happen and we’ve seen this before, is we then, as a society, people start using the list to go up against anybody who is not included on that list,” Berends said.
Mitchell said he worries the ordinance directs certain care to community groups and, in turn, takes away care other groups deserve.
“You got to change the heart of the person. you can’t create a bill that’s going to say, ‘This class is better than the other class, so take care of them,’” Mitchell said.
In an interview, James Urquidez said he is not in favor of the ordinance, but he would not vote to abolish it right now.
“There’s no way to enforce it, so it doesn’t serve a purpose,” Urquidez said.
For more information about the six candidates, read our candidate profiles.
The Argonaut will continue to cover the Moscow City Council Election.
Ellen Dennis can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ellenldennis