Charleston, S.C. Passes Pro-Gay Rights Law

The South Carolina city of Charleston became the second in the state to approve GLBT anti-discrimination protections.

Columbia had approved such measures previously. Charleston both widened the scope of its existing anti-discrimination law regarding housing, and added a new ordinance to prevent discrimination in public accommodation that covered the civil rights spectrum, from age and race to gender identity and sexual orientation, reported local news station WCBD, an NBC affiliate, on Nov. 24.

The news station reported that the ordinances were brought to the city's mayor. Joseph P. Riley, last summer by a group of local GLBT equality and human rights organizations, including the Alliance for Full Acceptance, the South Carolina chapters of the Stonewall Democrats and the Log Cabin Republicans, the American Civil Liberties Union, and South Carolina Equality. The article noted that those organizations had also promoted similar protections in Columbus.

"It's a step forward in the right direction in making sure that we are not discriminating against anyone," said Council Member Gary White.

"The passing of these ordinances is consonant with Charleston's historic reputation as one of America's friendliest cities and a place that is welcoming to all people," the executive director of the South Carolina office of the ACLU, said Victoria Middleton, told the media. "And they also affirm the constitutional principles shared by all Americans of non-discrimination and equality under the law."

Last month, similar protections were passed in Salt Lake City, with the backing of the Mormon church, which had been a main supporter of the anti-gay California ballot initiative Proposition 8 last year. The narrowly approved Proposition 8 rescinded the existing right of gay and lesbian families to marry in that state.

But Mormon officials indicated that there was no contradiction to opposing marriage equality in California and then supporting gay-inclusive anti-discrimination ordinances in Utah's capital city. "The church supports these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage," said the church's director of public affairs, Michael Otterson.

But South Carolina Baptists conveyed a much different message in approving a pair of anti-gay resolutions at the Nov. 10-11 annual convention of their faith. One resolution opposed the repeal of the military's ban on openly gay and lesbian troops; the other stated the church's opposition to a recently adopted federal hate crimes law that covers GLBT Americans, reported Q Notes in a Nov. 13 article.

The convention fell back on claims that protections for gays would impede the exercise of religious freedoms, stating that the Matthew Shepard James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Protection Act, which is the first federal law to extend protections to GLBT citizens and which President Obama signed on Oct. 28, "could effectively kill the First Amendment freedom of speech by criminalizing any verbal opposition to homosexuals and/or their lifestyle."

Although religious conservatives have often made that charge, the law only pertains to criminal acts of physical violence in which victims are targeted on the basis of sexuality, among other factors such as race, religion, and disability. FBI statistics show that in 2008, anti-gay bias crimes rose by 11%--the third year in a row that anti-gay hate crimes have increased.

"These numbers are unacceptable," said Joe Solmonese, president of the GLBT lobbying organization the Human Rights Campaign. "While it is so important that we have the new federal hate crimes law, it is critical to ensure that we continue working with the Department of Justice to ensure the safety of LGBT citizens.

"We have to prosecute each hate crime to the fullest extent of the law, but we also need to get at the roots," added Solmonese of the rising rate of anti-gay violence. "When we don't know each other as human beings, ignorance breeds misunderstanding, which breeds hate, which too often this year led to violence. We have to keep fighting the prejudices and stereotypes that underlie these acts."

The South Carolina Baptist Convention urged members to contact government officials and seek the repeal of the Matthew Shepard James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in order "to keep freedom of speech in our pulpits and the public square."

At the same time, the convention offered reassurances that it did not actively promote anti-gay violence, exhorting people to "avoid acts of hatred and violence toward lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgendered persons and treat our fellow citizens with the kind of civility we would prefer to receive ourselves." The convention framed the issue of not subjecting gays to violent crime in religious terms that view homosexuality as a "sin," asking "all believers to love and show compassion toward lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgendered persons, sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is able to bring true freedom from error and to set free the captives of sin."