Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Urge Springfield to Remove 1976 Anti-Gay Ordinance

The City Council of Springfield Missouri is expected to pass a measure tonight eliminating a 1976 ordinance which makes it illegal for gays and lesbians to solicit same-sex encounters. The law is on the books but has not really been enforced in many years and is viewed as unnecessary and unconstitutional language.

Council member Doug Burlison made a promise to bring this up to a vote after the PrideFest celebration in June and said he "looks forward to getting this action completed". There already is an existing law that prohibits public sex that makes no mention of sexuality or gender.

"This is not a measure approving gay marriage," Burlison said. "We're not giving gay people any additional rights. This is a measure, in my mind, that keeps everyone on a level playing field and keeps social engineering out of local law" (BND).
Please urge the city council members to vote to disband this law.

Contact info for councilmembers can be found here.

Take quick e-action by clicking here to email all of the members directly.

6 comments:

elaygee said...

If its unconstitutional, they should withdraw it without discussion

Queers United said...

They would still need to debate whether its unconstitutional no?

planet trans said...

Removal of the ordinance was approved according to a person who asked not to be identified at the the Springfield City Hall.
The city clerk will be available for comment after 10am on Sept. 10.

Queers United said...

thats awesome, but wouldnt they make their rulings public right away?

Sabertooth Screaming Lemur said...

Somehow, the fact that he felt the need to add "We're not giving gay people any additional rights" kinda pisses me off. No, god forbid we give The Gays any rights! That would mean we'd have to start treating them like people! Shit.

planet trans said...

They have a routine delay between the council meeting and when it's posted to the minutes. I'll check back on that.

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