The so-called Fairness Ordinance will not be on the city’s general election ballot May 2, said Lancaster County Election Commissioner Todd Wiltgen.
That had been the goal of a group of advocates who started a ballot initiative — for the second time — in the hopes of getting enough signatures to let voters decide whether to expand discrimination protections under city code to include sexual orientation, gender identity and active military and veterans.
Last week was the deadline to certify a special issue for the May 2 ballot, but a number of steps would have had to happen before that.
The group — which calls itself Let Lincoln Vote — had to gather 8,846 signatures, the election commissioner needed to verify them and the City Council would have had to vote to put the question on the ballot.
The fate of the Fairness Ordinance has been in flux for more than a year. And it's been a decade since a different City Council passed a more narrowly worded ordinance, then didn’t act to either rescind it or put it on the ballot after a successful referendum petition by opponents.
People are also reading…
That ordinance sat dormant until February 2022, when the current City Council passed a broad update to the city’s municipal code dealing with equal opportunity. In addition to expanding protections in housing, employment and public accommodation, it also updated definitions of marriage, race and natural origin, strengthened definitions and updated disability protections.
Opponents, led by the Nebraska Family Alliance, mounted a successful referendum petition drive, gathering enough signatures to force the council — once again — either to rescind the ordinance or put the question to voters.
There was division among supporters of the ordinance between those who wanted to move forward and those who worried transgender people would be targeted and that supporters didn’t have the organization or financing in place to successfully counteract well-organized, well-funded opponents.
In June, the council narrowly voted to rescind the ordinance and Let Lincoln Vote began its first petition drive. It collected 11,000 signatures — well over the number needed. In August, the election commissioner determined the petitions were invalid because they didn’t include a notice in red ink as required by state law.
In December, Siebler and other supporters filed a second ballot initiative to get the question on the May ballot, but were frustrated by what they said was an inability to get city or county officials to ensure the petition forms were accurate and valid this time around.
Now that the deadline has passed, the next steps for the group — and others who have tried to expand such protections for years — are unclear.
“I don’t know where things stand right now,†said George Wolf, a longtime advocate.
Siebler, who has been the primary spokesperson for Let Lincoln Vote and was spearheading the second effort to gather signatures, is running for the District 4 seat on City Council. She couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.
Amos Sobotka, another member of Let Lincoln Vote, said there is some discussion happening about community-building among various groups that all want to see such protections, and figuring out how to move forward.
Wolf said he’s unsure what it would take to get the question on the November ballot, and noted that things have changed in the last year.
For one thing, the Legislature is debating several bills that would limit opportunities for transgender Nebraskans.
And a city election looms that could change the makeup of the City Council, now a 6-1 Democrat majority, and in which Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird, a Democrat, faces two Republican challengers.
Wolf said one of the great ironies is the reluctance of some to move forward with the ordinance because of fears that the campaign would be most detrimental to transgender individuals, and now legislation across the country is aimed at limiting their rights.
“What has happened, of course, is all across the country now there are anti-trans bills,†he said. “We could have had this taken care of.â€