Elected Libertarian leads repeal of anti-homosexual law in Missouri
From Doug Burlison, Libertarian city councilmember in Springfield, Missouri:
On September 8, at my urging, our City Council (of which I am a member)
repealed a local ordinance that prohibited homosexuals from "soliciting" each
other. In other words, it was O.K. to put the "heterosexual moves" on a member
of the opposite sex, but if you're gay, any talk about sex could've invited
punitive measures...until now.
The measure was added to some other items which were repealed as a package, it
was basically a legal "housekeeping" ordinance. It was a unanimous vote by all
councilmembers in attendance.
Afterwards, it seemed to be a rather subdued reaction. This issue was not of
the highest profile, whereas we are intently working on solving the underfunded
status of our Police and Fire Pension System. Building up to the vote, however,
we received quite a few e-mail messages pro and con. The quantity of the "pro"
messages exceeded both the quantity and the civility levels of the "con"
messages, which included threats of lawsuits and future electoral failure.
Speaking for myself only, I can tell you when someone issues a threat to me, I
will not respond the way that they desire. I did receive a few congratulatory
e-mails and expressions of gratitude, which helps to defray the numerous
complaints that you hear in a job like this (which is an unpaid, volunteer
position, by the way).
This would not have been addressed if I had not initially pushed the issue. My
awareness of this ordinance came about at a local Pridefest earlier this year,
when I accompanied local Libertarians who manned a booth at the event. Across
the street, several neo-nazis and white supremacists were protesting the event,
with some signage that recommended death and hell for gays. At one point, a
local pastor, Dr. Roger Ray, took the stage and made a speech which highlighted
and condemned the homosexual solicitation ordinance that we still had in our
city code. To hear a man of the cloth reading a portion of our city law that
targeted a specific population, and that the exact language of the law was very
pornographic in tone, coupled with the sounds of fascist protests in the
background; I knew what needed to be done. Dr. Ray even handed me his copy of
the ordinance so that I could reference it. This was a great opportunity for
me, in that a large part of my motivation for getting into politics was and is
to fight against oppression wherever it raises its ugly head. My libertarian
background also equipped me for this particular fight as well. In the end, I
also had the support of my colleagues on the council, as was evidenced by the
final vote. Sometimes, things do work out all right.
_______________________________________________
Missouri Libertarian Party:
http://lpmo.org/
Help the Missouri LP:
http://lpmo.org/volunteer.shtml
Donate to the Missouri LP:
http://lpmo.org/donate.shtml
In all seriousness, I am a leftist, not a liberal. There is a difference. I love leftists; can't gag liberals.
I'm still confused...
