Human Rights Advisory Council Ordinance Dies

A proposed ordinance that would have created a Human Rights Advisory Council in Cheyenne is dead.

After drawing a lot of opposition from both the LGBT community and religious groups during last Wednesday's Public Service Committee meeting, sponsors of the ordinance asked that the matter be withdrawn from the agenda during Monday night's City Council meeting.

"We had a great discussion last week," said Councilman Dicky Shanor. "I don't have any specific plans to move anything forward or any sort of initiatives or ordinances right now and I'm not aware of anyone, other than perhaps Councilman Williams, seeking to do that."

Councilwoman Annette Williams has stood firmly against the creation of a Human Rights Advisory Council, repeatedly calling it a "Band-Aid." She believes it's time for Cheyenne to pass an LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance similar to Laramie's.

"You can't put a Band-Aid on something that's gushing, it's only going to hold for a certain amount of time before it just starts spilling over and that Band-Aid is going to fall off," said Williams. "I think instead of putting a Band-Aid, let's fix it permanently and move forward."

Williams says she plans to bring an LGBT ordinance forward within the next month.

"I'm going to stand up for what I believe in and we'll see if I get the sponsorship," said Williams.  "I just think that the LGBT community is not being fairly represented by the whole community and I think that it needs to stop.  Nobody wants to be discriminated against or left out and this is a category that needs to be added into our city ordinances because this group of people are not protected in the state of Wyoming or the City of Cheyenne."

"Any one councilman can sponsor an ordinance to put it in front of the governing body," said Shanor. "So if any of my colleagues choose to do that we'll certainly look at it and vet it and see if it's right for Cheyenne."