EUREKA SPRINGS (KFSM) - Voters in Eureka Springs will decide on Tuesday (May 12) whether they want to keep an anti-discrimination ordinance that was passed by the City Council in February.
The Eureka Springs City Council passed Ordinance 2223 on Feb. 9. It prohibits the city and businesses from discriminating against a person based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
James DeVito, owner of DeVito's Restaurant, introduced the legislation. He said he hopes the ordinance will stay.
"It's just unfair that any segment of our population does not experience the true freedom of the United States," he said.
Mike Mercer, who is against the ordinance, is the pastor at Beaver Lake Baptist Church. He believes the ordinance will force churches like his to perform same-sex marriages.
"There are other places that have problems with discrimination and they may need laws, but we did not need this fight," he said.
Polls will be open on Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. at the Eureka Springs Courthouse.
Eureka Springs Mayor Robert Berry said the special election will cost the city around $3,200. He said they were able to save money by having the election on the same day as one already planned for the extension of a 0.5% sales tax in Berryville.
Even if residents vote to keep the ordinance, it will become invalid once Act 137 goes into effect July 1. Act 137, a bill sponsored by Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, bans future civil rights ordinances. It passed both the Arkansas House and Senate and became law on Feb. 24 without Governor Asa Hutchinson’s signature.