LGBT Resolution

[ljbab728]

Norman City Council affirms LGBT rights | NewsOK.com

Calling it a vote of historic importance, Mayor Cindy Rosenthal lauded fellow city council members Tuesday for unanimously passing a resolution acknowledging inclusive protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents of Norman.

The city council's resolution also acknowledges and extends protection for the LGBT community when it comes to housing, marriage, shopping or eating in restaurants.

Now I wonder how long it will be before our wonderful state legislature tries to pass a law outlawing this kind of resolution.

[Plutonic Panda]

This is awesome. Now I hope to see Edmond, Oklahoma City, Guthrie, and Stillwater follow suit.

[ou48A]

This is a good thing to do..... but I wish the Norman city government / council would spend about 99% of their time on issues that improve opportunity for all.

Norman needs to improve the city’s ability to attract major corporations and their high wage jobs to our city…. If they would, the social issues would tend to take care of themselves.

[dankrutka]

This is a good thing to do..... but I wish the Norman city government / council would spend about 99% of their time on issues that improve opportunity for all.

Norman needs to improve the city’s ability to attract major corporations and their high wage jobs to our city…. If they would, the social issues would tend to take care of themselves.

Social issues don't "take care of themselves." Laws bolster, solidify, and push forward social change. Towards your economic concern, there are companies that might be more likely to move their operations to Norman due to a more inclusive community. Thus resolution literally improves opportunity for all.

Besides, it's not like the council was like, what do you want to work on this year -- social issues OR the economy? City councils can address more than one issue at a time.

[ou48A]

Social issues don't "take care of themselves." Laws bolster, solidify, and push forward social change. Towards your economic concern, there are companies that might be more likely to move their operations to Norman due to a more inclusive community. Thus resolution literally improves opportunity for all.

Besides, it's not like the council was like, what do you want to work on this year -- social issues OR the economy? City councils can address more than one issue at a time.

Those types’ problems largely do TEND to take care of themselves when the economy is strong.

A rising tide lifts all boats!

The last I knew most people including the LGBT community would like better paying job opportunities and that’s something that impacts all of us!

Improving all our lives is what the city of Norman should spend 99% of its time on.

When the local economy is poor many social problems do become worse! Just wait until the state budget cuts take there full impact and we will see how this goes once again.

[dankrutka]

Again, improving "all our lives" means making sure everyone is included in "all." A good economy is rarely a cure for inequality.

[ou48A]

Again, improving "all our lives" means making sure everyone is included in "all." A good economy is rarely a cure for inequality.

Personal responsibility, hard work, an employable education and thick skin will always trump any law or anything the government can do….. but our local government can improve our job picture by making it an overriding priority.

It’s just a simple fact that your utopian world will never happen…there will always be people who hate for whatever reasons and won’t like you/ me for a long list of reasons…. You cannot legislate feelings.

[ljbab728]

Thanks for derailing this thread. Please start another thread to complain about what the city council is not doing to suit you if that is what you want to focus on. Please continue here if you have something either positive or negative to say about this issue.

[dankrutka]

Personal responsibility, hard work, an employable education and thick skin will always trump any law or anything the government can do….. but our local government can improve our job picture by making it an overriding priority.

It’s just a simple fact that your utopian world will never happen…there will always be people who hate for whatever reasons and won’t like you/ me for a long list of reasons…. You cannot legislate feelings.

This is my last reply. Your first paragraph has been proven wrong over and over again. Tons of undeserving people succeed in this world at the expense of hard working people who face various forms of bigotry. There are lots of studies that bear this out. As to your second paragraph, are you totally ignorant of American history? There are a lot of examples of laws literally changing opportunities and eventually public sentiment from various Civil Rights Acts in the 1960s (which enforced Brown v Board) to Title IX. These laws provided opportunities that wouldn't have existed otherwise. So, in short, your second paragraph has been proven wrong repeatedly. Lastly, your whole argument still makes no sense. Passing this ordinance does not detract from any economic endeavors. The two are not in any way in opposition to each other. If you're anti-gay rights then just say that and be to the point. Don't put together some murky argument that is totally off topic and unrelated.

[Bunty]

Norman City Council affirms LGBT rights | NewsOK.com



Now I wonder how long it will be before our wonderful state legislature tries to pass a law outlawing this kind of resolution.

Or if that doesn't happen this session, then maybe Norman residents will circulate a petition to vote on abolishing it.

[baralheia]

Those types’ problems largely do TEND to take care of themselves when the economy is strong.

A rising tide lifts all boats!

The last I knew most people including the LGBT community would like better paying job opportunities and that’s something that impacts all of us!

Improving all our lives is what the city of Norman should spend 99% of its time on.

When the local economy is poor many social problems do become worse! Just wait until the state budget cuts take there full impact and we will see how this goes once again.

As a member of said community: Well, duh - who doesn't want more job opportunities with higher pay? But better paying jobs are of limited usefulness when there's little to keep your employer from dismissing you just because you're gay - which does and has happened before. Protections first. Besides, these protections do make communities more inclusive, which does attract the companies providing those better paying jobs!

[catch22]

This is absolutely an economic issue -- being out of work because of your personal afflictions means a loss of real income.

It may not affect you, or 99% of the people you associate with. But real people do have economic hardship because their employer did not like who they spend their personal time with.

This resolution is a great thing, and more evidence of Central Oklahoma becoming more progressive and extending liberty for all.

[Tundra]

I just don't see this kind of discrimination happening often or at all anymore, employers know better than they did 10 years ago. I have a harder time with people that have facial piercings and rainbow hair, applying for jobs where they want to be taken serious......than I do with a homosexual. They ( homosexuals ) have money ,houses,cars, and should be treated as fair as anyone else..... But rainbow hair and facial piercings and tattoos all over don't have a place in 90% of work environments.

[ljbab728]

I just don't see this kind of discrimination happening often or at all anymore, employers know better than they did 10 years ago. I have a harder time with people that have facial piercings and rainbow hair, applying for jobs where they want to be taken serious......than I do with a homosexual. They ( homosexuals ) have money ,houses,cars, and should be treated as fair as anyone else..... But rainbow hair and facial piercings and tattoos all over don't have a place in 90% of work environments.

The difference is that those kinds of things are choices that people make and an employer has a right to decide the kind of image they want projected by their employees in appearance. My daughter decided a number of years ago to get her eyebrow and belly button pierced and got a tattoo on her arm. Now that she is a professional in her job she hasn't used the piercings for years and had her tattoo removed. There are places where people can be employed with those kind of accoutrements so someone who desires them just has to decide what is most important to them.

Even if this LGBT kind of discrimination doesn't happen often, this ordinance provides a legal recourse if it does happen.

[progressiveboy]

It would benefit the community to be more "inclusive" and forwarding thinking policies!! After all, a good portion of the LGBT population has large disposable incomes and spend their $$$ in the community.

[bchris02]

I just don't see this kind of discrimination happening often or at all anymore, employers know better than they did 10 years ago. I have a harder time with people that have facial piercings and rainbow hair, applying for jobs where they want to be taken serious......than I do with a homosexual. They ( homosexuals ) have money ,houses,cars, and should be treated as fair as anyone else..... But rainbow hair and facial piercings and tattoos all over don't have a place in 90% of work environments.

That type of discrimination happens more than you realize. I had a boss one time who openly said that if he ever found out one of his employees was gay, he would fire them on the spot and do everything he could to keep them from getting unemployment. There was one guy in the office that people kind of suspected might be. Coincidentally enough, he was gone a few weeks later. This type of stuff may not happen often, but it happens more than people realize.

[Bunty]

Or if that doesn't happen this session, then maybe Norman residents will circulate a petition to vote on abolishing it.

I can't imagine anyone wanting to hit the streets or go door to door with such a petition, but I sure can imagine people not being afraid to try to get signatures while in most churches.

[Brett]

Technically, the proper acronym is LGBTQ. Omitting the "Q", is overt discrimination and thus offending the whole community.

[Tundra]

Technically, the proper acronym is LGBTQ. Omitting the "Q", is overt discrimination and thus offending the whole community.

What does Q stand for?

[Urbanized]

What does the Q in LGBTQ stand for?

[ljbab728]

Technically, the proper acronym is LGBTQ. Omitting the "Q", is overt discrimination and thus offending the whole community.

Interesting. I've never heard anyone who is in that group express that kind of sentiment.

This is a little off the subject of this thread but I found this interesting. I'm a big fan of vintage movie musicals and watch a lot of clips on youtube. Watch what happens at the 6:50 mark of this and this was over 80 years ago.

[baralheia]

I absolutely do not claim to represent everyone, but I have never heard anyone sincerely express that kind of sentiment either. LGBT has always been considered an umbrella term from it's inception in the early 90's; questioning folks are, of course, part of the community, and pretty much always have been. There are other letters too - like "I" and "A" (Intersex and Asexual, respectively) - both of which are also part of the community and technically missing here. However, in my personal view, automagically equating the lack of a letter in an initialism to malice (even when none was intended) seems more than a little childish - especially considering these groups still fall under the umbrella of the community.

Anyway.

I actually came across a thread on the OKC subreddit this morning that was trying to argue that these sorts of policies do nothing to address discrimination in the real world, that it just drives that discrimination underground and people should vote with their wallet to allow the great equalizer that is the Free Market™ to show that business who's boss. I've had a headache ever since.