The Fayetteville City Council will consider whether to send a new anti-discrimination ordinance to voters in a proposed Sept. 8 special election. Alderwoman Adella Gray, who is sponsoring the ordinance, said Thursday the new version is "very different" from a previous ordinance the city council passed last year.
In a December special election, Fayetteville voters scrapped that ordinance that was designed to protect residents based on sexual orientation or gender identification. Gray says several attorneys worked with the business community and other groups that had raised concerns about the first version to draft the new ordinance. The council will consider the ordinance later this month.
The Arkansas Legislature earlier this year passed a law barring municipalities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances to protect classes of people not protected under state law.
