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03-26-12 Common Council Meeting Minutes
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03-26-12 Common Council Meeting Minutes
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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 26, 2012 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />bill is doing is to make South Bend a more fair and welcoming place. She urged the <br />Council to pass it unanimously. <br /> <br />Stacy Davis, 304 Runaway Bay, Apt. 3B Mishawka, Indiana, stated that Mishawaka does <br />not have a Human Rights Commission so that if they have a problem they have come to <br />South Bend, so this does matter to her. She stated that she chooses to live as a follower <br />of Jesus. She stated that she is straight and a profession bible scholar and supports the <br />amendment to the South Bend Human Rights Ordinance for four reasons: First it is <br />inclusive, while the amendment is vigorously characterized as a “special rights for <br />homosexual” this is simply not the case. The amendment will allow straight folks like <br />her and folks like Mr. Mangan to file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission if <br />they are discriminated against due to our sexual orientation. She quoted Isaiah 56.1 <br />“maintain justice and do what is right” It does not say do those things for some <br />privileged people only. Second point: Opponents of the ordinance want to “to preserve <br />the legitimate constitutional rights of all citizens” specifically the right of religious <br />freedom. Religious freedom however does not mean one particular interpretation of <br />st <br />Christianity. The reason that we have a 1 Amendment is so that one belief about God or <br />the Bible cannot be privileged over another. As a proud history major she stated think <br />back to your grade school history classes. The colonist came to the new world so that <br />they could worship in their own way, there is a religious exemption in the proposed <br />ordinance so those religious organizations and employers for whom certain sexual <br />orientations are an issue remain free to live out their conscience and they will be able to <br />do so without repressing the conscience of religious people from whom none of this is an <br />issue. Third: There is no consensus even among Christians regarding the theological <br />implications of sexuality. As a professor of Hebrew Bible she can tell there is no <br />mention of homosexuality in the Bible, because there was no concept of sexual <br />orientation in the ancient world period. The Roman Catholic catechism says this about <br />gays and lesbians “they must be accepted with the accepted with respect, compassion, <br />and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in that regard should be avoided.” <br />How is it respectful to give no recourse for discrimination in public accommodations for <br />people whether they are straight, gay or both. Finally, loving opposition, to tell people <br />that you love them and supposing to live as free citizen with the same rights and <br />privileges that you have is inherently contradictory. As a Christian she stated that she <br />knows only two things, she is called to love God and her neighbor and she cannot love <br />the former without loving the latter. She stated that she doesn’t have to agree with you to <br />love you. Leviticus 19.34 says “You shall love the stranger as yourself for you were <br />strangers in the land of Egypt.” We love those who are different from us because we too <br />are different in some way. As Fannie Lou Hamer concluded “how can I hate another <br />human being and hope to see God.” She stated that she does not claim to be opposition <br />hates gays and lesbians, she is pretty sure that they don’t, but the desire to keep them <br />from the opportunity to use legal channels to address legal problems is not loving. Tyler <br />Clementi father’s put it this way “just because you don’t like them, doesn’t mean you <br />have to work against them.” She asked the Council to work for all of us, regardless of <br />what God or not we have and who we love or don’t. <br /> <br />Jeannie Kenlee, 50900 Country Knolls Dr., Granger, Indiana, stated that she works about <br />seven blocks from here and go to church in a different direction seven blocks from here. <br />She stated that she is here to answers some of the questions that she has heard and have <br />been raised. She stated that her daughter came out a few years ago as a lesbian. She <br />stated that she was confused, upset and very much uninformed. She would have stayed <br />that way but decided she had to move on, get over it, and so she did. She stated that she <br />learned the truth about homosexuality. She learned that what her church had taught her <br />was not true. Modern theologians do not believe the same as theologians that wrote the <br />Bible years and years ago. She stated that by what she has seen the Council sometimes <br />seems as confused as she was. She advised that the Council cannot stay that way, <br />because it is bad for South Bend. She stated that by not passing this bill tonight you will <br />be losing some of the best young people. She stated that her daughter graduated from <br />Clay High School, she graduated from Purdue, she has her Master’s Degree, she is 28 <br />years old and has been very successful in law enforcement in the Gary/Hammond East <br />Chicago Area, she was an officer in the military for 10 years and she now works for the <br />Federal Government. She could live and work here if she wanted to, but she doesn’t <br /> 14 <br /> <br />
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