03-26-12 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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