OHIO: Bowling Green Voters Approve Sweeping LGBT Rights Ordinances

Last year the city council of the college town of Bowling Green, Ohio instituted broad ordinances protecting LGBT residents from discrimination. Anti-gay Christian groups immediately forced the suspension of the new laws and had them placed on this year's ballot. The votes are finally in and it was close. Via press release from the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force:

With the final vote now officially tallied, voters in Bowling Green, Ohio, have passed two ordinances protecting people from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and public education based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. Last year, the city council added those categories to Bowling Green's Fair Housing Law with Ordinance 7905, and the Unlawful Discrimination Ordinance with Ordinance 7906. The majority of voters backed those ordinances, allowing LGBT people to be protected under the city’s nondiscrimination laws. According to the results released today, Ordinance 7905 passed 52.67 percent to 47.33 percent and Ordinance 7906 passed 51.65 percent to 48.35 percent. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force contributed to this victory through staff and financial support provided to One Bowling Green, the locally-driven, grassroots campaign that defended the nondiscrimination measures.