A timetable is now set for public discussion of a renewed push to change Omaha city ordinances to ban discrimination against gay and transgender residents.
City Councilman Ben Gray said he plans to put the proposal on the Feb. 28 council agenda. A public hearing could follow March 6, with a vote as early as March 13.
The planned schedule sets the table for a debate that last occurred in Omaha in 2010. Many local business groups and religious-based organizations were pitted against others who supported Gray's effort to approve the new protections against discrimination.
Gray's latest proposal will contain language similar to that in his originally proposed amendments to city ordinances.
The city's existing anti-discrimination regulations would be amended to prohibit discrimination based on "sexual orientation" or "gender identity."
Gray's amendments would allow gay and transgender residents who believed that they were fired over their orientation, suffered other workplace discrimination or were refused service at a restaurant, hotel or other place that serves the public to file a complaint with Omaha's Human Rights and Relations Department.
One major change: Draft language in the proposal, provided to The World-Herald, would exclude all religious organizations — not just Catholic groups — from adhering to provisions prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The draft also includes a definition of gender identity, although Gray said that language could be changed before the end of the month.
"I need language that is a little bit more clear," he said.
The draft defines gender identity as: "The actual or perceived appearance, expression, identity or behavior of a person as being male or female, whether or not that appearance, expression, identity or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's designated sex at birth."
The draft also defines sexual orientation as "actual or perceived heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality." Employers would not be required to provide employment benefits to same-sex partners under the proposal.
A repeat of the 2010 vote seems unlikely. Councilman Franklin Thompson abstained from voting then, and the proposal failed on a 3-3 tie. Thompson has said he will vote this time, though he has declined to say whether he will support or oppose the proposal.
The council still appears to be divided.
"In my opinion it's a tough one to govern," said Council President Thomas Mulligan, who opposed the measure in 2010. "If we have trouble understanding it, just think of the problems we're going to have trying to enforce it."
Mulligan said he thinks it's a matter best left to the federal government or the state to decide.
"I don't see where this is something that should be implemented on a local level," Mulligan said.
State Sen. Beau McCoy of Omaha has introduced a bill in the Legislature that would bar Nebraska cities and local governments from unilaterally creating new classes of residents protected from discrimination. Instead, McCoy's Legislative Bill 912 would grant such authority solely to the state.
The bill is before the Judiciary Committee, but a hearing date has not been set.
Gray said he planned to continue speaking with his colleagues about the proposal.
"It's still early," he said. "There's still things that can be done, language that can be worked out, discussions that can be held."
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