Anchorage’s Gay Initiative Seems to be on The Roll

 Since Anchorage was a city, really — there have been attempts to pass an ordinance banning discrimination against gays and lesbians. Several times, such measures have been on the brink of adoption, only to be repealed or vetoed at the last minute as Alaska’s ardent conservative Christian community cranked into gear.

That could change.

Antidiscrimination advocates say an initiative on the April 3 municipal ballot — gaining almost more attention in Alaska these days than the U.S. presidential race — has won unprecedented support from faith leaders, including the Episcopal bishop and 50 other churches and religious groups.

Of course, twice as many churches have mobilized to defeat the measure.

Thousands of dollars from grass-roots advocates on both sides, as well as from donors outside Alaska, are now pouring in to the battle. Those dollars are funding an onslaught of television and radio ads as Alaska becomes the latest front in the national debate over gay rights.

The initiative would build on the city’s existing ordinance prohibiting discrimination in housing, employment and similar spheres on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, marital status, age or disability. Protections for gay, lesbian and transgender persons would be added to that ordinance.

At least 150 cities, counties and states across the U.S. have passed similar laws, but Anchorage has touched off a political firestorm every time it has tried to do so. The most recent attempt was in 2009, when the Anchorage Assembly adopted an ordinance that was vetoed by Mayor Dan Sullivan.

In December, advocates for the measure collected 13,515 signatures in support, more than twice the number needed to get the measure on the ballot. Sullivan’s spokeswoman has said he wants to put the issue to a vote.

“We have been working towards the same legal protections for 35 years. We’ve had ups and we’ve had downs, and today, we feel we’re very much on the upswing,” Trevor Storrs, spokesman for the pro-initiative One Anchorage campaign, said in an interview.

He said the focus of the effort since 2009 has been getting more gays and lesbians to identify themselves publicly as ordinary and trusted friends and neighbors. The effort has also recruited church leaders, labor union officials and the head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Anchorage into the campaign.

Critics have mobilized church congregations and gathered support from religious conservative groups outside Alaska to tell Anchorage residents that the ordinance could harm business owners and jeopardize religious freedom.