Members of the Prairie City Council need more time before voting on a proposed nondiscrimination ordinance.
Monday evening, during a scheduled council meeting that lasted close to 3 hours, the council voted 9-3 to consider the ordinance and possible adoption at its Nov. 19 meeting. It will allow staff to bring in any revisions to the ordinance and allow for more legal review.
The nondiscrimination ordinance, introduced by Councilmen Trucker Poling and Chad Herring, would make it illegal to refuse someone a job, housing or services based on their sexual orientation.
Kansas does not have any laws at the state level offering such protections to the LGBTQ community, so it’s left up to cities. It’s modeled after similar measures that were passed in Manhattan and Roeland Park. Megan England served on the Roeland Park City Council when the city passed its ordinance in 2014.
“Everybody on the council wanted to make sure that the mechanism that we created was fair and that it didn’t overly side for the accuser and overly side for the accused,” England said.
She urged the Prairie Village City Council to pass the ordinance because “it’s good for business and community.”
(Read more: fox4kc.com | FOX 4 – WDAF)