BY CINDY TOOPES COURIER STAFF WRITER
March 19, 2008 10:34 am
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OTTUMWA — Listen, reconsider and amend. That’s what the City Council did Tuesday concerning the sexual orientation ordinance.
The ordinance was on Tuesday’s agenda for its second reading. At least 50 people packed council chambers and several spoke, for or against, the proposed city law, which was the last item on the agenda.
Those who favored the ordinance said it’s needed to prevent discrimination in housing and employment.
Citizens who spoke against it said the ordinance would enable a man to put on a dress, enter a women’s restroom and molest or kidnap a female youngster.
Ed Ball of the Ottumwa Human Rights Commission said the people doing that are pedophiles, not gays.
“These crimes are done by ‘normal’ people,” Ball said.
After public comment, Councilman Gordon Aistrope said he was also concerned about who would enter the restroom because the proposed ordinance includes “gender identity” as part of the protected classification.
“This does bother me. Sexual orientation, OK. Gender identity, no,” Aistrope said.
He moved to delete “gender identity” and Councilman Mitch Niner seconded the motion.
Councilwoman Shannon Addison said current medical journals and psychology publications have “clearly stated” it’s “not transgenders, not cross-dressers” who would molest youngsters in restrooms.
“A pedophile is a pedophile,” she said.
Police Chief Jim Clark also told the council that pedophiles and sexual predators are a “kind of their own.”
Clark said he hoped the council would delete either “gender identity” or “public accommodations” from the proposed city law.
Then the question was what happens next to a proposed ordinance that was just amended.
City Attorney Tom Kintigh said if the amendment passes, then the ordinance would move back to the first reading.
Addison said pulling “gender identity” out of the ordinance “won’t hurt.”
“If we do have an issue with gender identity, they can handle it at the state level,” she added.
The council voted unanimously to remove “gender identity” from the proposed ordinance.
On the first reading of the amended ordinance, Aistrope, Addison and Niner voted for it and Meyers and Councilman Keith Caviness voted against it.
Cindy Toopes can be reached at (641) 683-5376 or via e-mail at cindy@ottumwacourier.com.
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