Voters in Fayetteville, Arkansas on
Tuesday repealed the city's LGBT-inclusive Civil Rights Ordinance.
Of the 14,563 ballots cast in the
special election, 52 percent favored repeal, while 48 percent favored
keeping the ordinance. Only 29 percent of registered voters
participated.
The Fayetteville City Council approved
the ordinance in August. Opponents organized to put the ordinance up
for a popular vote.
The ordinance prohibits discrimination
based on sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic
background, marital status and veteran status in the areas of
housing, employment and public accommodations.
Anne-Garland Berry worked to keep the
ordinance as campaign manager for Keep Fayetteville Fair.
“I think [the loss] means that we
have a lot of work to do,” she told 5
News Online. “We haven't had the conversations we needed to
have. We haven't persuaded the people we needed to persuade. So my
goal for our team and those of us here and in other parts of Arkansas
and in other parts of the south and in this country is [that] we
should have more conversations.”