DeeJay Johannessen, HELP Center for LGBTQ+ Health & Wellness CEO, speaks during a city council meeting Feb. 24 at the Arlington City Council Chambers. Johannessen said taking away the original antidiscrimination chapter’s protections leaves residents’ safety in the hands of the federal government.
The Arlington City Council passed a new antidiscrimination chapter into the city code Tuesday, months after the original’s removal. The revised chapter gives the city less control over discriminatory issues than the last.
The decision marks the end of a several-month back-and-forth between constituents and the council after many residents decried the original chapter’s suspension in September. Over a dozen people spoke during the Tuesday meeting, all of them opposing the new chapter.
Tuesday’s ordinance, one of the issues on the consent agenda, passed 6-3 with all council members present for the vote. During the previous meeting on Feb. 10, the council passed a resolution condemning discrimination.
Here’s how the council voted on the new antidiscrimination chapter:Mayor Jim Ross: yesMauricio Galante: yesRaul Gonzalez: yesNikkie Hunter: noAndrew Piel: yesRebecca Boxall: yesLong Pham: yesBowie Hogg: noBarbara Odom-Wesley: no
Arlington resident Kim Martinez, 57, speaks to city council members during a meeting Feb. 24 at the Arlington City Council Chambers. Martinez said the original antidiscrimination chapter should not have been rescinded in the first place.
The original antidiscrimination chapter allowed the city to investigate claims of discrimination based on race, religion or sexual orientation, among other categories. The chapter was suspended five months ago, with city officials citing concerns that Trump administration policies would bar Arlington from receiving federal grants.
The new chapter relies on federal legislation for protection, citing several Civil Rights Acts, and does not allow city officials to investigate discrimination reports. Instead, residents facing discrimination will be provided with resources or redirected to a state or federal agency.
Several council members have cited state and federal legislation as sufficient protection for Arlington residents, and some also claimed the previous antidiscrimination chapter was never enforceable.
Attendees clap during a city council meeting Feb. 24 at the Arlington City Council Chambers. The council passed the new antidiscrimination chapter into the city code.
Many residents, in past meetings and on Tuesday, have disagreed with that sentiment.
“Right now, all we have is our city,” said Keegan Dees, a 27-year-old transgender Arlington resident. “We don’t even have the state.”
DeeJay Johannessen, HELP Center for LGBTQ+ Health & Wellness CEO, said federal law is the bare minimum and should not be the basis of Arlington’s antidiscrimination chapter.
David Grebel, 70, Arlington resident and former pastor at Celebration Community Church, speaks during a city council meeting Feb. 24 at the Arlington City Council Chambers. Grebel said the new antidiscrimination chapter has no meaning.
Embedded Instagram video post from The Shorthorn.
Mayor Jim Ross, who was in favor of the new chapter, said before the vote that while he wants to reinstate the original chapter, there are not enough votes to do so. The city can at least pass something, he said, or continue to be stagnant.
Ross said he hopes the council can look into how to “improve things” in the future.
While addressing a crowd outside the chambers after the vote, Johannessen said that the outcome was not what he wanted, but he was not surprised.
“This is not over,” Johannessen said. “We no longer lose at city council and go home to our houses and whine. Go home, brush off the dust, take a deep breath, and we get right back.”
David Grebel, a 70-year-old retired pastor and Arlington resident, urged the council not to adopt the ordinance, stating that it is “lukewarm.”
“This ordinance that you’re looking at this evening is what? It’s empty,” Grebel said. “It has no meaning, it has no effect, it relies on enforcement from an unreliable government.”
Arlington’s situation has developed amid widespread threats from the Trump administration to withhold funding from cities that maintain diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Trump signed an executive order to end all such programs after his inauguration, referring to them as “radical and wasteful.”
Arlington Mayor Jim Ross speaks to attendees before voting on the new antidiscrimination chapter during a city council meeting Feb. 24 at the Arlington City Council Chambers. Ross said it is OK for attendees to disagree with each other but not to misrepresent disagreement.
City Manager Trey Yelverton said in a previous council meeting that Arlington has $65 million in federal grants at stake, which support programs such as housing assistance, firefighter grants, Via and Handitran.
Johannessen, among other speakers, said during the meeting that changing the antidiscrimination chapter does not impact whether Arlington receives federal funding.
Three council members voted against the new antidiscrimination chapter during a city council meeting Feb. 24 at the Arlington City Council Chambers. The new chapter relies on federal legislation for protection.
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