It's time to try again on a sensitive issue, two city commissioners in Royal Oak believe.
They'll ask colleagues Monday night to consider an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing and employment.
"We have an incredibly diverse city now. We have firefighters and police from (gay and lesbian) families," Commissioner Jim Rasor tells Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press.
Rasor says residents have shifted their attitudes toward gay people since 2001, when city voters trounced -- by a 2-1 margin -- a proposal for a human rights ordinance that would've banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
He and City Commissioner Kyle Dubuc placed the subject on the City Commission agenda. Rasor said he plans to ask the commission to direct the city attorney to begin drafting a proposed ordinance, but he isn't certain the commission will go along with a vote tonight.
"The holiday season, I think, is a great time to reflect on this," Rasor says. "As we gather together . . . we have to do that in a spirit of inclusion and loving my neighbor. That is what this is about, and not giving into the forces that would divide us."
