Mayor Ethan Berkowitz's first hundred days have just come and gone, and Anchorage already feels like a more inviting and welcoming city.
One of the top priorities of the Berkowitz candidacy was passing a law barring discrimination against people for their sexual orientation or gender identity. This has been a controversial topic in Anchorage for many years. In 2009 the Assembly passed a similar ordinance 7-4, but then Mayor Dan Sullivan vetoed it -- the Assembly would have needed 8 votes for an override.
The last time it came up, in 2012, Proposition 5 lost in the ballot box with 57 percent of the voters filling in the "no" oval.
When the new ordinance passed at the end of September, Devin Kelly reported in Alaska Dispatch News that Rev. Jerry Prevo of the Anchorage Baptist Temple said, "Tonight we have nine Assembly members that apparently didn't care what 57 percent of the voters wanted."
However, when it comes to individual rights, it shouldn't matter what voters want. When it comes to individual rights, it is the job of our elected officials to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority, and finally, in this case, our elected officials did their job.
It's a feeling that follows a nationwide trend. The Supreme Court recently ruled that the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause applied to marriage laws in every state. Which means that if every state has a law that says that two people can get married -- which they do -- then the law has to treat all people equally in that instance, meaning that any two people can get married, regardless of gender.
It's actually a very simple concept to understand, and any gun-toting, God-fearing, Constitution-carrying conservative should be all in favor of it, you know, if they love the Constitution so much.
Every action, however, has a reaction.
When good things start happening for an oppressed group, the oppressors will eventually start to bellow -- and they have.
In June the rainbow flag that proudly flies outside the Identity Inc.'s Gay and Lesbian Community Center (an organization which, as a straight ally, I am proud to be a member of) was vandalized for the third time since October. The burnt remnants of the flag remain waving across the 5th Avenue sidewalk and directly in the faces of those who claim there is no discrimination or hatred of gays in Anchorage.
During the Sullivan Administration, those in the LGBT community knew they were on their own. They had no friends in City Hall, and while they knew there were some friendly faces on the Anchorage Assembly, they were essentially powerless against the conservative majority and the powerful veto pen of the Mayor who was not afraid to use it.
A new age has come. We can call this the LGBT Spring.
However, just because we've won a couple battles, does not mean that the war is over. People have asked now that these major battles have been won, what is next?
I think what is next is that people need to realize that this is not an LGBT fight with straight allies standing on the sidelines watching and cheering them along. This is a fight we all need to be in. This isn't an LGBT issue; we all own this issue. When the Supreme Court ruled on gay marriage, I was just as excited as anybody was. It was a victory for the LGBT community, absolutely, but it was also a victory for personal liberties, which is my most important fight.
Be an ally to your LGBT friends. Don't stand on the sidelines. Anybody who can't see the signs of LGBT discrimination in our community at this point just isn't looking. Do they need the remnants of the burning rainbow flag to hit them in the face before they can see it? When you hear someone saying hateful things about a member of the LGBT community in casual conversation, call them out on it. It's not acceptable in a welcoming community to push out people who contribute so much to our society, just because of outdated bigoted notions.
Hate and bigotry are alive and well in our community and around the country, but things are starting to change. When it comes to individual rights, the people do not deserve a right to vote. The majority does not get to oppress the minority. We have won some major battles, but get off the sidelines and join the fight so that the war can be won.
Mike Dingman is a fifth-generation Alaskan born and raised in Anchorage. He is a former UAA student body president and has worked, studied and volunteered in Alaska politics since the late '90s.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com