Are Anti-Discrimination Ordinances new?

In the last year, numerous cities in Johnson County, Kansas adopted non-discrimination ordinances to ensure LGBTQIA people a sense of security in their neighborhoods. Despite Johnson County’s progressive changes, journalist Lynn Horsley believes the fight for LGBTQIA equality has been “a conversation Kansas City, Missouri went through more than twenty-five years ago.” While gay and lesbian activists fought for equality coastally, Horsley states “Kansas City played a larger role for LGBTQIA people in the 1950’s and 60’s, because of its active gay social scene.”   

The rest of Horsley’s article focuses on The Ordinance Project, a documentary directed by UMKC doctoral student, Austin Williams. In his documentary, archival footage shows “heated exchanges at City Hall, as gay-rights and AIDS activists fought for services and discrimination protections in the late 1980’s.” Kansas City finally passed an ordinance in 1993.

As much as it is riveting to witness Kansas City’s early role in the lives of LGBTQIA people, I often wonder how purposeful anti-discriminatory ordinances really are. During my undergraduate career, I wrote a paper on national and foreign LGBTQIA legislation. I found in most cases; our current legislation is not being enforced. 

Scholar, Kevin Jost argues “the UN still promotes policies at odds with the Universal Declaration for Human Rights.” If governing documents are not being enforced by the founders who created them, how do we know the UN or other legal organizations are following through on their promise? For instance, while SCOTUS ruled in favor of LGBTQIA people in the workforce, LGBTQIA people are still are not granted rights to adopt children, or guaranteed health care. There is still much work to be done, as well as more enforceable legislation. It is nice to see Johnson County rise in favor of LGBTQIA people, but how will they monitor and enforce new policies? In the coming years, will these polices still exist? And in what ways can we improve existing legislation? 

What are your thoughts on JOCO’s ordinances? Drop a comment below, subscribe, and hit the like button. Please keep your thoughts friendly if you decide to share. Thanks! 

To learn more about The Ordinance Project and Kansas City’s rich LGBTQIA scene, check out Lynn Horsley’s article here.

You can also checkout an extensive report on the legalities of Gay marriage and right’s in the U.S here http://science.jburroughs.org/mbahe/BioEthics/Articles/CQRGayMarriage.pdf