(Lander, WY) – It may not have been on the agenda, but Lander’s proposed non-discrimination resolution was the focus of much of this week’s Lander City Council meeting.
The resolution was removed from the April 12 agenda in order to allow more time to share information with the community, Mayor Monte Richardson said last week.
Regardless, more than a dozen people addressed the council about the resolution Tuesday evening, offering a range of opinions about the impact it might have on the community.
‘Freedom from religion’
Only four people expressed opposition to the resolution during Tuesday’s meeting – mostly based on their religious beliefs.
For example, Rev. Philip Strong of Grace Reformed Fellowship said it’s his job to “discriminate” by telling people that “there is a narrow way that leads to heaven.”
“If I read the scriptures, I could technically be found in violation of the law,” he said.
Community member Lisa Sheehan echoed his concern, saying she has “a great fear” that the resolution could lead to discrimination against herself, “because I do believe in God’s word – the Bible – and the scripture is very clear about … moral living and a moral life.”
Others pointed out, however, that religious beliefs are already protected by the law – which also provides people with “freedom from religion,” resident Jennifer Young noted.
“The government is prohibited from favoring one religious view over another – or even favoring religion over non-religion,” Young said. “If you, as city council members, are taking into consideration favoring a religious view over a nonreligious view, or a very different religious view, I think that’s problematic.”
Welcoming community?
Another person who spoke in favor of a non-discrimination resolution this week was a 15-year-old Lander Valley High School sophomore, who spoke through tears as she recounted her experience coming out to her friends as pansexual.
Many of her peers turned their backs on her in response, she said, calling her names in the hallways and even telling her she should kill herself.
Now she struggles with anxiety and depression, she said, and her grades have suffered as well.
LVHS librarian Nate Shoutis, who has been the school’s LGBTQ+ Club advisor for the last five years, said the majority of the queer students he has gotten to know do not feel welcome in Lander.
“Most of them leave the state as soon as they are able to,” he said. “They don’t feel that they can (be themselves) here.”
Debra East, an out lesbian who has lived in Lander since 1978, agreed that “people who move to Lander who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary – they don’t want to stay.”
“If our town wants to have growth, and zest, and opportunity, welcoming people is important,” East said. “Lander has the opportunity to expand and deepen its care for citizens (through) this resolution.”
Moving forward
Earlier in the meeting, Council Member Julia Stuble had said she was “disappointed” that the item had been removed from the evening’s agenda, suggesting that the city set a date – potentially June 14 – for formal consideration of the non-discrimination resolution.
“This resolution has … opened up the conversation (and) exposed where there may be some divisions and disagreement in town,” Stuble said. “That’s an important conversation for us to have together.”