The Mudflats

Today, new developments arise in the matter of controversial Assembly ordinance #64.  The ordinance would add the words “sexual orientation” to the city’s non-discrimination law.  Those two little words have drawn battle lines, and made Assembly meetings look like a weird hybrid of football game, church revival and street fair.

Walking into the Loussac Library feels like the moment when you hold your nose, take a deep breath and jump in the pool, not knowing quite how cold it’s going to be.  The brain chemicals are pumping, and the emotions eminating from reds and blues alike make the air thick, and wear down the emotions in short order.

The “red shirt brigade” doesn’t want this ordinance to pass.  They know that 1) the majority of citizens in Anchorage do want it to pass  2) the Assembly is likely to vote for it  3) Mayor Matt Claman will not veto it.

Mayor Matt Claman

So, they plan a filibuster.  Mayor Claman will no longer be mayor after July 1.  At that time, conservative Dan Sullivan will take over.  They hope that he will veto the ordinance.  So they cancel church services on Wednesday night to get people to testify.  They bus in people from the Valley, who aren’t even Anchorage residents. 

They usher in Christian youth groups who are visiting from the Lower 48 to hold professionally printed signs and wear donated red t-shirts.  They want to make the line so long that this will roll over, 3 minutes at a time, into a Sullivan administration.  They’re hoping for the veto.

Assembly Chair Debbie Ossiander

Assembly Chair Debbie Ossiander allowed two full days to sign up to give testimony.  About 550 people signed up, and after three nights of testimony, about half of them were heard.  Ossiander announced the decision to cut off the sign up, and finish up with those who were already on the list.  There were many complaints.  After (presumably) a legal opinion was rendered. Ossiander reversed her position, and will allow more people to sign up.  This means more hours and days of: 

Love the sinner, hate the sin.

Gays have more germs.

I don’t want pedophiles in my four-plex!

They’re all going to “recruit” our children!

There will be dozens…no hundreds of lawsuits!

It’s going to bankrupt the city and ruin my business!

This is all going to lead to sex with donkeys!!! (no I’m not kidding)

My kid’s teacher is going to show up in a dress!

My teenage daughter was traumatized by a man in a dress in the ladies’ room! (This seems to be a frequent complaint at these meetings…)

~~~Shannyn Moore really has to pee. But, what if.....

We don’t need to do anything to “encourage this behavior.”

Jesus doesn’t approve of homosexuals.

You’re denying people the right to act on their religious beliefs.

It’s a choice whether you want to be a pervert or not.

I used to be gay, but I prayed real hard and now I’m cured!

You gays think you have it bad….you never had to sit at the back of the bus!

What if a transsexual comes in to the men’s room and stands there watching me pee?

I’m never going to want to hire a gay person again because now if I fire them for bad job performance, they’re all going to sue me.

And my personal favorite (in light of all of the above), “We don’t need this ordinance. There is no discrimination in this town.”

and on and on and on and on and on….

Mayor Claman is finishing out the term begun by former Mayor now Senator Mark Begich.  He stepped up from his Assembly seat to fill in.  So when Sullivan starts, Claman is back on the Assembly and an additional yes vote.   Then there’s Assemblyman Dan Coffey, widely rumored to be leaving the Assembly to serve as Sullivan’s Chief of Staff.  That’s one less no vote.  It takes 8 votes of the Assembly for a veto-proof majority, and with one extra yes and one less no…the odds change.

And nobody knows for certain what Dan Sullivan will do.  Rumors are swirling that he’s kind of dreading having it land in his lap.  That’s a heck of a way to start off a squeaky clean, brand new administration.  Kinda like that scene in “Carrie” when Sissy Spacek shows up at the prom in the pretty dress ready for the night of her life, and then ….  the bucket dump. 

Surely Sullivan is not looking forward to angering the very loud, very obnoxious minority and incur “the wrath of the red shirts.”  Neither is he going to want to alienate the less loud, voting majority who will see a veto as the new mayor caving in to a radical religious fringe group who are acting like bullies.

And regardless of how the Assembly vote pans out, we are likely to have a ballot initiative next time around.  A little more than 5,000 signatures will be needed to put the question to the people.  Both sides have talked about this strategy should the ruling not go their way.  But can the people vote democratically on matters of civil liberties?  We certainly couldn’t vote slavery back, even with a majority.  We’ve yet to have this issue addressed.

Another Alaskan soap opera in the making.

[h/t Shannyn Moore for the amazing video]