Last week, we told you how Greenville County, South Carolina, was poised to become America’s first LGBT-free zone.
However, on Wednesday, the Greenville County Council abruptly voted to repeal an anti-gay resolution from 1996 that one council member wanted to place on the November ballot. The resolution stated “that lifestyles advocated by the gay community should not be endorsed by government policy makers, because they are incompatible with the standards to which this community subscribes.”
Citing economic concerns, County Council Chairman Butch Kirven called Wednesday’s special meeting to reconsider the body’s vote from last week, which left the resolution in place.
The Greenville News reports: Today, the County Council in a 7-5 decision voted to approve a measure that effectively put aside a previous council’s stance taken against gays during a politically charged climate surrounding the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. It was a compromise that more turned away from history than affirmatively establish any new county position on the subject — putting to sleep any non-binding resolutions after four years, which includes the 1996 statement. The vote nonetheless was greeted with cheers in the crowd of mostly LGBTQ supporters both inside the chambers and rallying outside.
More from the Greenville Journal: Indeed, Council chambers had already reached full capacity well before the special meeting had even begun, with crowds gathering in the lobby and outside in the County Square parking lot to listen to the proceedings. The meeting came a little more than a week after County Council failed to pass the exact same sunset resolution at their regular meeting on March 3. That resolution had been widely expected to pass, but Councilmen Bob Taylor and Joe Dill switched their votes at the last minute, after listening to protests from citizens who cited scripture and “traditional family values.” … In a letter announcing the meeting, Kirven addressed the “immediate consequences” and “potential harm to the general well-being and future economic prospects that are essential and beneficial to the entire population of Greenville.”
It’s unclear whether Dill still plans to go forward with his proposal to allow voters to weigh in on the resolution.
Watch the vote and the ensuing celebration below.
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