After the 2nd attempt, Memphis City Council failed to pass an ordinance to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation by the city against employees.
Here's more:
The ordinance failed to gain the seven votes needed for approval on the Memphis City Council's consent agenda.
If the minutes from Tuesday's vote are approved at the next council meeting, council rules prohibit the ordinance -- or one that is substantially similar -- from being heard for six months.
Even though the ordinance failed, a study of discrimination in city government, including sexual orientation, will continue.
"It's not dead," said Councilman Shea Flinn, who sponsored the ordinance and resolution. "We're still conducting the study and after six months, it will be back up for grabs."
Flinn, Janis Fullilove, Edmund Ford Jr., Jim Strickland, Wanda Halbert and Myron Lowery voted to approve the ordinance on second reading.
Council members Bill Boyd, Reid Hedgepeth and and Kemp Conrad voted against approval. Council members Joe Brown, Harold Collins and Bill Morrison did not vote. Councilwoman Barbara Swearengen Ware has been suspended from her seat after her felony indictment on a charge of official misconduct.
Carolyn Witcover, who attended the council meeting in support of the ordinance, said the failure to approve the ordinance will harm the city's image, sending a message of "intolerance" to the world.
"It's their attempt to keep Memphis the old backwater it is," Witcover said.
The ordinance has sparked heated debate since being introduced at City Hall.
Some religious leaders have said they're in favor of the issue. Others, such as the Family Action Council of Tennessee, a faith-based organization that promotes the "traditional family," have opposed it.
This is silly of Memphis, it needs to move forward and catch up with other major cities. The good news is, it will be back on the table in 6 months
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