A proposed gay civil rights ordinance brought out more than 100 people to Flagstaff City Hall Monday night, pitting proponents against at least one local pastor and others.

The two sides clashed over the merits of adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of civil rights that are protected in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations and education in Flagstaff.

Download the proposed ordinance here.

One woman told the council she thought the proposed ordinance could be abused by pedophiles and worried about the safety of her three young daughters when using public toilets.

Another woman countered that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered in Flagstaff would continue to be legally discriminated against in their workplace, public places and even in their homes unless the council adopts the proposed ordinance.

Both sides quoted short passages from the Bible to make their case.

In the end, the passionate debate over the ordinance ended when authors agreed to withdraw their proposal from before the City Council and have it heard first by the city's diversity awareness commission.

BACK TO THE COMMISSION

The statewide gay rights group behind the ordinance, Equality Arizona, had initially petitioned the Flagstaff City Council last month to directly consider the ordinance. Local organizers said they were disappointed that the proposal had sat idle before the diversity awareness commission for more than a year without a formal recommendation.

But after discussions with the mayor and members of the city council, the organizers agreed to bring it back to the commission in part to start educational campaign throughout the community about the underlying issues of the ordinance.

Charlotte Dodgson, the chair of the diversity commission, told the council was initially not prepared to review such a complicated proposal.

The commission plans to hold a six-hour meeting on Saturday, Aug. 16, at Flagstaff City Hall to get input from various segments of the community about discrimination in Flagstaff. That discussion will not be limited to LGBT issues.

The commission also plans to hold a series of public meetings this fall using an outside facilitator to help guide the discussion of the LGBT ordinance.

CHURCH HIRING AT ISSUE

The proposal touched off a tidal wave of opposition Monday from portions of Flagstaff's faith-based community.

Jim Dorman, senior pastor for Christ's Church of Flagstaff, said the proposal as written would not address the underlying issues.

"It was written to promote a particular agenda and I stand in strong opposition to elevating sexual preference to a protected status," he said.

Dorman even suggested that if the ordinance passed, his church might consider suing the city over the ordinance.

"We would be forced as a faith-based community to come before the city over the issue of hiring non-secular employees," he said. "As a church and having to come before a Human Rights commission to justify our hirings would be discriminatory."

The proposed ordinance would exempt churches from discrimination laws when hiring "non-secular" employees such as day care attendants or janitors only if they could prove a "permissible bona fide religious or denominational preference."

Another woman said she was concerned that the concept of gender identity was sufficiently vague that it could be used by pedophiles in public restrooms.

The woman contended there was no "litmus test" for gender identity and the issue has already become a problem in California schools.

'ABSOLUTELY UNTRUE'

The authors of the ordinance, modeled after a 1999 ordinance passed in Tucson, said the "restroom incident" argument was ludicrous.

"It is absolutely untrue," said Sarah Friedmann, a regional coordinator for Equality Arizona.

Friedmann said there were no credible reports of male sexual predators dressing in women's clothing in order to sexually abuse young girls or women.

Georgia Duncan, the president of the Flagstaff chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said the issue was simple in her mind.

Discrimination against gays in Flagstaff is a reality, telling the council she knew of one woman who lost her job when she came out as a lesbian to her boss.

Chaparral Fireland, who spoke in favor of the ordinance, said her concerns were for the next generation of Flagstaff residents.

"There is nothing more I fear for my grandchildren than to have them grow up in a world where they witness people being discriminated against, however politely, however covertly or however hateful and angrily."

J. Ferguson can be reached at 556-2253 or jferguson@azdailysun.com.