List of U.S. ballot initiatives to repeal LGBT anti-discrimination laws
US ballot initiatives to repeal LGBT anti-discrimination laws are anti-LGBT initiatives used to target and repeal LGBT anti-discrimination laws in the United States. These efforts started in 1972 and continue through at least 2018 on the state and local level. The person most associated with leading these efforts is Anita Bryant. After her most of this work to re-allow government discrimination are from organizations.
History
Jurisdictions in the United States began outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 1972, when East Lansing, Michigan, passed an ordinance forbidding discrimination based on "affectional or sexual preference".[1] In response, opponents began organizing campaigns to place measures on their local ballots to repeal these anti-discrimination laws. The repeal movement found a national spokesperson in Anita Bryant, who helped found—and served as president of—Save Our Children. Save Our Children organized in Florida in 1977 in response to the passage by the Dade County Commission of an anti-discrimination ordinance. Bryant's campaign was successful; the Miami-Dade ordinance was repealed by a greater than two-to-one margin. Repeal campaigns, building on this success, spread nationally and several other ordinances were repealed. In California in 1978, conservative state senator John Briggs sponsored Proposition 6, which would have barred gay and lesbian people from working in a public school. The defeat of this measure, and of an ordinance repeal measure in Seattle, Washington, the same day, stalled the momentum of the repeal forces.
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The mid-1980s and early 1990s saw a resurgence in ballot initiatives, culminating in proposed state constitutional amendments in Oregon and Colorado not only to repeal existing anti-discrimination ordinances but to proactively prohibit the state and any local unit of government within the state from ever passing such an ordinance. Oregon's Measure 9, sponsored by the Oregon Citizens Alliance, failed, but Colorado's Amendment 2 passed. Amendment 2 was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in its 1996 Romer v. Evans decision. Oregon and two other states, Idaho and Maine, had initiatives between the passage of Amendment 2 and the Court decision; all three were defeated but many municipalities within Oregon passed local measures.
As the question of same-sex marriage has risen to greater prominence, opponents of such marriages have turned their attention to passing constitutional amendments barring individual states from legalizing same-sex marriages or recognizing such marriages performed in other jurisdictions. These amendments are listed here. Before the marriage issue arose, some jurisdictions had begun providing limited rights and benefits to same-sex domestic partners. These ordinances also became targets of repeal efforts, with repeal supporters meeting with less success.
Since the 2015 US Supreme Court ruling in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, the prominence of LGBT anti-discrimination laws became the top priority of LGBT rights activists. One of the most controversial, recent, and largest repeal effort was Proposition 1 in Houston, Texas.
Ballot initiatives
Statewide level
The mid-1980s and early 1990s saw a resurgence in ballot initiatives, culminating in proposed state constitutional amendments in Oregon and Colorado not only to repeal existing anti-discrimination ordinances but to proactively prohibit the state and any local unit of government within the state from ever passing such an ordinance. Oregon's Measure 9, sponsored by the Oregon Citizens Alliance, failed, but Colorado's Amendment 2 passed. Amendment 2 was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in its 1996 Romer v. Evans decision. Oregon and two other states, Idaho and Maine, had initiatives between the passage of Amendment 2 and the Court decision; all three were defeated but many municipalities within Oregon passed local measures.
Election date | State | Goal | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|
November 8, 1988 | Oregon | Measure 8, to revoke an executive order barring discrimination in the executive branch | Passed with 53% of the vote.[2][3] |
November 3, 1992 | Colorado | Amendment 2, to repeal all gay rights ordinances within the state and to prevent the state or any political subdivision from passing new gay rights ordinances | Passed with 53.2% of the vote.[4] Later struck down by the United States Supreme Court in Romer v. Evans.[3][5] |
Oregon | Measure 9. "All governments in Oregon may not use their monies or properties to promote, encourage or facilitate homosexuality, pedophilia, sadism or masochism. All levels of government, including public education systems, must assist in setting a standard for Oregon's youth which recognizes that these behaviors are abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse and they are to be discouraged and avoided." | Defeated with 56% of the vote.[3][6] | |
November 8, 1994 | Oregon | Measure 13, to forbid state and local governments from passing anti-discrimination ordinances | Defeated with 51% of the vote.[3][7] |
Idaho | Proposition 1, to forbid state and local governments from granting minority status and rights based on homosexual behavior. | Defeated with 50.1% of the vote.[3][8] | |
November 7, 1995 | Maine | Question 1, to ban the state and local governments from passing anti-discrimination ordinances | Defeated with 53% of the vote.[3][9] |
November 3, 1998 | Maine | To repeal state's gay rights law | Passed with 52% of the vote.[3] |
November 7, 2000 | Maine | To repeal state's gay rights law | Passed.[3] |
November 8, 2005 | Maine | To repeal state's gay rights law | Defeated by 57% of the vote.[3] |
November 6, 2018 | Massachusetts | To repeal state's 2016 transgender rights law that forbids discrimination in public accommodations (including bathrooms and locker rooms) | Defeated by 67.82% of the vote.[10] |
Local level
After failing to pass Measure 9 in 1992, OCA turned its attention to passing anti-discrimination bans at the county and municipal level. Couching the debate in terms of forbidding LGBT people from receiving so-called "special rights", OCA sought not only to block ordinances in these communities but to bar them from spending money to "promote homosexuality".[11] OCA was successful in passing over two dozen initiatives. However, in 1993 the Oregon Legislative Assembly passed a law prohibiting local governments from considering LGBT rights measures so the ordinances had no legal force.[12] The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld the state law in 1995.[13] Two weeks after the United States Supreme Court ruled in Romer, OCA suspended its efforts for a third statewide ballot initiative.[14]
Election date | Locale | Goal | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|
1974 | Boulder, Colorado | Placed on the ballot by the Boulder city council after passage of a gay rights ordinance met with public outcry | Passed with 83% of the vote.[3][15][16] |
June 7, 1977 | Miami-Dade County, Florida | To repeal the county's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 69.3% of the vote.[3][17] |
April 25, 1978 | St. Paul, Minnesota | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 63.1% of the vote.[3][18] |
May 9, 1978 | Wichita, Kansas | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 80% of the vote.[3][19] |
May 23, 1978 | Eugene, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 64.3% of the vote.[3][20] |
November 7, 1978 | Seattle, Washington | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Defeated with 62.9% of the vote.[3][21] |
June 3, 1980 | Santa Clara County, California | To repeal the county's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 70.2% of the vote.[3][22] |
San Jose, California | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 75.2% of the vote.[3][22] | |
1982 | Austin, Texas | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance in housing | Defeated with 63% of the vote.[3] |
1984 | Duluth, Minnesota | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 76% of the vote.[3][23] |
1985 | Houston, Texas | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 82% of the vote.[3] |
1986 | Davis, California | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Defeated with 58% of the vote.[3] |
November 7, 1989 | Athens, Ohio | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 53% of the vote.[3][24] |
Irvine, California | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 53% of the vote.[3][24] | |
Concord, California | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 50.2% of the vote.[3][24] | |
Tacoma, Washington | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 51.2% of the vote.[3][25] | |
1990 | Wooster, Ohio | To repeal the city's housing law | Passed with 63% of the vote.[3] |
May 21, 1991 | Denver, Colorado | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Defeated with 55% of the vote.[3][26] |
November 5, 1991 | St. Paul, Minnesota | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Defeated with 54% of the vote.[3][27] |
May 19, 1992 | Corvallis, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Failed with 63% voting against.[3][28] |
Springfield, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 55.4% of the vote.[3][28] | |
1993 | Portsmouth, New Hampshire | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Passed.[3] |
November 2, 1993 | Portland, Maine | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Defeated with 57% of the vote.[3][29] |
Tampa, Florida | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with almost 58.5% of the vote. However, the Florida Supreme Court later ruled that 462 signatures from the initiative petition were invalid and voided the repeal.[3][30] | |
Cincinnati, Ohio | Ballot Issue 3, to prevent the city from enacting any gay rights ordinances. | Passed with 67% of the vote. Despite being worded almost identically to Colorado's Amendment 2, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the measure as constitutional in 1997.[31] Cincinnati voters repealed Issue 3 in 2004.[3][32] | |
Lewiston, Maine | To repeal a recently passed anti-discrimination ordinance | Passed with 68% of the vote.[3][33] | |
May 18, 1993 | Cornelius, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[34] |
June 29, 1993 | Canby, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[35] |
Junction City, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed by one vote.[11][35] The measure was later invalidated by a court but a new initiative passed in March 1994.[36] | |
Douglas County, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[35] | |
Josephine County, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[35] | |
Klamath County, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[35] | |
Linn County, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[35] | |
September 21, 1993 | Creswell, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[37] |
Estacada, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[37] | |
Grants Pass, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[13] | |
Gresham, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[13] | |
Lebanon, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[37] | |
Medford, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[37] | |
Molalla, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[37] | |
Sweet Home, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[37] | |
Jackson County, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[37] | |
November 9, 1993 | Keizer, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 55% of the vote.[12] |
Oregon City, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 53% of the vote.[12] | |
1994 | Springfield, Missouri | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[36] |
March 22, 1994 | Albany, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[36] |
Junction City, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[36] | |
Turner, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[36] | |
Marion County, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[36] | |
May 17, 1994 | Cottage Grove, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[13] |
Gresham, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Received a majority of the vote but not the 60% majority required for passage.[38] | |
Oakridge, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[13] | |
Roseburg, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[13] | |
Veneta, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[13] | |
November 1994 | Alachua County, Florida | 1) To overturn the existing gay rights law 2) To bar future ordinances |
Passed with 57% of the vote. Passed with 59% of the vote.[3][39] |
November 8, 1994 | Lake County, Oregon | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed.[13] |
January 10, 1995 | West Palm Beach, Florida | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Defeated with 56% of the vote.[3][40] |
March 7, 1995 | Tampa, Florida | To repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Five days before the election a judge threw out the referendum so the votes were not tallied.[3][41] |
1996 | Lansing, Michigan | Two initiatives, both to repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Passed with 52% of the vote. Passed with 55% of the vote.[3] |
1998 | Fayetteville, Arkansas | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Passed with 60% of the vote.[3] |
Fort Collins, Colorado | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Passed with 62% of the vote.[3] | |
1999 | Falmouth, Maine | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Defeated with 59% of the vote.[3] |
Spokane, Washington | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Defeated with 52% of the vote.[3] | |
2000 | Ferndale, Michigan | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Passed.[3] |
2001 | Huntington Woods, Michigan | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Defeated.[3] |
Kalamazoo, Michigan | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Defeated with 54% of the vote.[3] | |
Traverse City, Michigan | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Defeated with 58% of the vote.[3] | |
September 10, 2002 | Miami-Dade County, Florida | To repeal the county's gay rights ordinance | Defeated with 53% of the vote.[3][42] |
2002 | Westbrook, Maine | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Defeated.[3] |
Ypsilanti, Michigan | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Defeated with 63% of the vote.[3] | |
Tacoma, Washington | To repeal the city's gay rights law | Defeated.[3] | |
March 1, 2005 | Topeka, Kansas | To bar Topeka from recognizing sexual orientation as a protected class for ten years | Defeated with 52% of the vote.[3][43] |
March 24, 2009 | Gainesville, Florida | Charter Amendment One, to repeal the city's gay rights ordinance | Defeated with 58% of the vote.[3][44] |
November 8, 2011 | Traverse City, Michigan | To repeal the anti-discrimination ordinance enacted in 2010. | Defeated by 62.9% of the vote.[45] |
November 6, 2012 | Salina, Kansas | To repeal the city's anti-discrimination ordinance in public employment or housing. | Passed by 54% of voters.[46] |
Hutchinson, Kansas | To repeal the city's anti-discrimination ordinance in public employment or housing. | Passed by 58% of voters.[46] | |
May 20, 2014 | Pocatello, Idaho | To repeal the cities anti-discrimination ordinance for sexual orientation and gender expression | Defeated by a margin of 80 votes.[47] |
August 7, 2014 | Chattanooga, Tennessee | To repeal Ordinance 12781, an ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and establishing domestic partnership benefits for city employees. | Passed by a vote of 62.58% in favor of repeal and 37.42% against.[48] |
December 9, 2014 | Fayetteville, Arkansas | To repeal Ordinance 5703 Chapter 119, an ordinance to protect and safeguard the right and opportunity of all persons to be free from discrimination based on real or perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, familial status, marital status, socioeconomic background, religion, sexual orientation, disability and veteran status. | Passed by a vote of 51.66% in favor of repeal and 48.34% against.[49] |
April 7, 2015 | Springfield, Missouri | To repeal the Ordinance 6141[50] | Passed with 51.43% of the vote.[51] |
September 8, 2015 | Fayetteville, Arkansas | To repeal the Ordinance 5781 | Defeated with 52.77% of the vote.[52] |
November 3, 2015 | Houston, Texas | Proposition 1 | Defeated with 60.97% of the vote.[53] |
April 3, 2018 | Anchorage, Alaska | Proposition 1 | Defeated by 52.64% of the vote.[54] |
Domestic partnership repeal initiatives
Election date | Locale | Outcome |
---|---|---|
November 6, 1990 | Seattle, Washington | Failed.[25] |
1991 | San Francisco | Failed.[55] |
May 7, 1994 | Austin, Texas | Repealed.[56] |
November 7, 1995 | Northampton, Massachusetts | Repealed by a margin of 87 votes.[9] |
August 7, 2014 | Chattanooga, Tennessee | Passed by a vote of 62.58% in favor of repeal and 37.42% against.[48] |
See also
Further reading
- Faderman, Lillian (2007). Great Events From History: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Events, 1848-2006. Salem Press. ISBN 1-58765-264-1.
- Keen, Lisa and Suzanne B. Goldberg (2000). Strangers to the Law: Gay People on Trial. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08645-6.
- Murdoch, Joyce; Price, Deb (2001). Courting Justice: Gay Men and Lesbians v. the Supreme Court. New York, Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-01513-1.
- Rutledge, Leigh (1992). The Gay Decades. New York, Penguin. ISBN 0-452-26810-9.
- Shilts, Randy (1982). The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-52330-0.
- Vaid, Urvashi (1995). Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay & Lesbian Liberation. New York, Anchor Books. ISBN 0-385-47298-6.
References
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