What is it?
On February 8th, 2011, the city commission of Manhattan, Kansas voted to adopt a new amendment to the city anti-discrimination ordinance that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes already in the ordinance. Those protected classes already receiving special protections were race, sex, familial status, military status, disability, religion, age, color, national origin, and ancestry. Although the amendment was adopted on February 8th, it will not be enacted until September 1st, 2011 (unless it is revoked beforehand).
This ordinance prevents people from discriminating on the basis of the above classes in areas of employment, public accommodation, and housing in order to "assure equal opportunities and encouragement to every citizen." The previous version of the ordinance also created the Human Rights and Services Board, which is a group of voluntary members appointed to investigate complaints of discrimination, among other duties. This new amendment extends their powers through the creation of a "hearing panel," which is granted much more authority to investigate complaints and order remedies, including fines of up to $50,000.
You can read many specifics of the ordinance and why they are cause for concern in our What's the Problem? article. You can register to sign the petition revoking this ordinance at www.awakenmanhattanpetition.com
You can also read the final version of the ordinance in full, as well as the previous drafts of the ordinance at the following links.
Final Draft (it will take a minute to load)
