Fayetteville Voters Approve Anti-Discrimination Measure

Voters in Fayetteville, Ark., have adopted a civil rights ordinance that would to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in a vote that could put the community in conflict with a state law barring such protections.

Fayetteville joins other Arkansas municipalities — Little Rock, Maumelle, North Little Rock, Pulaski County, Garland County and Eureka Springs — with ordinances aimed at preventing discrimination in the basis of sexual orientation.

Arkansas’ civil rights law doesn’t include protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people, but supporters have cited other laws containing those protections.

Fayetteville’s city council passed a similar ordinance last year but voters overturned it last December. This version includes wider exemptions for churches, religious organizations and schools.

The state attorney general calls them unenforceable.